


Metal Tears for the Tin Man

by Angylsmuse, Rina9294



Series: The End Is Where We Begin [1]
Category: Doctor Who (2005), Torchwood
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-19
Updated: 2017-01-18
Packaged: 2018-09-18 12:10:38
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 27
Words: 110,503
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9384467
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Angylsmuse/pseuds/Angylsmuse, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rina9294/pseuds/Rina9294
Summary: When Captain Jack Harkness can no longer deal with the pain of his universe, the Doctor finds a way to give him another one and a new start.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted October 2009-February 2010.

"There’s one thing I always wanted to ask Jack, back in the old days. I wanted to know about that Doctor of his, the man who appears out of nowhere and saves the world—except sometimes he doesn’t. All those times in history when there was no sign of him, I wanted to know why not. But I don’t need to ask anymore. I know the answer now. Sometimes the Doctor must look at this planet and turn away in shame. I’m recording this in case anyone ever finds it so you can see… you can see how the world ended."

The Doctor rewatched the tape for the hundredth time, all the while letting the TARDIS download the histories of Gwen Cooper, Ianto Jones, Jack Harkness and the events of 2009. He’d come to 2509 for a little R&R and decided to look up Torchwood histories for a lark—after all, Torchwood was where Jack was and had provided him so much amusement over the years—he’d thought he could do with a bit of a laugh with dinner. Of course he hadn’t expected to find Gwen’s video message on the public archives… which had only piqued his insatiable curiosity.

The TARDIS suddenly let out a peculiar little whine that had him diverting his attention from the video to the monitor. "Ianto Jones, born August 28, 1983--died March 15, 2009. That can’t be right! Ianto was supposed to live for at least… wait, what’s this? The 456, what in the name of the Infernal Schism happened?" the Doctor muttered to himself, delving deeper, bypassing security protocols with childlike ease as he dug for the truth…

Only to do the one thing he thought he’d never do. He pointed his TARDIS towards the one fixed point in the universe—Jack Harkness.

~*~*~

Jack wasn’t sure what planet he was on, other than it was one of the pleasure planets in the Oskator system. It was dark on the planet for almost twenty hours a day, allowing only ten short hours of gloaming, and it suited both the pleasure trade and Jack’s soul, he thought as he knocked back another glass of extremely potent alcohol. The club was all glitter and gloss, but underneath all the pretty it reeked of despair and death… just like him. What was it Byron once said? And Jack should know—he slept with the bastard—oh yeah.

 

> _"’Nameless, yet thus omnipotent, which here_  
>  _Walk’st in the shadow of the midnight hour_  
>  _With a deep awe, yet all distinct from fear;_  
>  _Thy haunts are ever where the dead walls rear_  
>  _Their ivy mantles, and the solemn scene_  
>  _Derives from thee a sense so deep and clear_  
>  _That we become a part of what has been,_  
>  _And grow unto the spot, all-seeing but unseen.’_

"Even sounds like me, don’t you think… Doctor?"

"I highly doubt you’re ever unseen, Jack," the Doctor commented as he sat down, waving away the waitress and taking Jack’s drink from his hand the next time the other man set it down.

"But do they see the real me? Do they see the perfect face and the far too attractive smile; do they smell the fifty-first century pheromones and all the allure; or do they see the dead man, sad man, murderer and thief?" Jack asked with a bitter smile. "I’m the proverbial honey trap of a black hole that sucks all that gravitates towards me into oblivion. I’ve buried so many, watched them all die but Ia… Ianto," Jack’s voice shattered like glass on metal, "Ianto and then Steven. One I watched die; the other I killed. Have you found a way for me to die yet, Doctor?" he asked, switching subjects at whiplash speed.

"Is it better to die or better to find another reason to live?" the Doctor asked, the weight of the Time Lord’s own losses adding gravity to his words. "I know what happened to them. It shouldn’t have; they shouldn’t have been there, the race you called the 456; they should have been extinct."

"But they weren’t, and I… I made a deal. I gave them ten kids, and they turned those kids into _heroin_ , and like any addicted thugs, they came back for _more_. _Because of me_!!!!" Jack screamed, hurling the bottle next to him at the finito glass windows that let in the light of millions of rainbows reflected off the crystalline surface of the planet, a planet that looked oh so pretty but was completely devoid of any life due to the miasma of poisonous gases that made up its atmosphere.

Around him patrons shrieked in terror and fled towards the emergency exits. If that glass should crack, the poisonous atmosphere would seep in and kill every living thing in the room. Except Jack. Jack would come back, like the proverbial bad penny, like the cat that came back the very next day even though he was a goner… Jack would still survive, still endure, still go on and on and on. Even when the universe ended, there he would be, in the vast empty void of infinity. A revenant of existence with an eternity of ghosts for company.

The bar slid into shrouded darkness as the security panels slid over the windows. What passed as planet security would be here soon, Jack thought with a dispassionate part of his brain. Maybe he should make that his new goal. See if he could get himself banned from every human-sustainable planet in the universe. Could be amusing for a while.

"And if you hadn’t have done it?" the Doctor asked, having remained in the bar. "What would have happened then?"

"They wouldn’t have stopped until they had ten percent of the children of the world… and they would have kept coming back," Jack sighed. "Steven was my grandson. I murdered my child’s child. What kind of a monster does that, Doctor?"

"One who wants to save a world and its people," was the quiet reply as the Doctor met Jack’s gaze, his dark eyes full of his own memories of sacrifice.

"I can’t do this anymore, Doctor. I’m not nearly as unselfish as you are. I… need a reason to go on, and I don’t have it anymore. He asked me to remember him," Jack choked out, his laughter bordering on hysterical. "As if I could ever forget him. I never told him that I, oh God, that I loved him. Not when he was alive. But I did, I do, and God help me, I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to stop loving him."

A hand closed on the lapel of Jack’s greatcoat, and the Doctor hauled him to his feet. "And no one is asking you to stop; carry them in your heart, keep them alive. We’re leaving now; come along." Keeping a firm hold on Jack’s coat, he dragged the taller man toward the exit.

"Anyone ever tell you you’re a pushy man, Doctor?" Jack chuckled as his less than steady feet had him wobbling about like one of the Time Lord’s infernal time loops.

"All the time, Captain," the Doctor laughed, steering Jack toward the TARDIS and inside. He pushed the other man into a chair and began to work the controls, sending them hurtling through time and space.

"Doesn’t seem to deter you at all," Jack muttered and then turned green even though he didn’t actually feel the TARDIS moving. He _knew_ that it was hurtling through space and time at untraceable speeds, and that was all that was needed. "’Scuse me," he muttered as he all but ran through the doors that led to the living quarters, hoping that the damned box hadn’t rearranged itself while he was on Earth and that he could still find the way to the room that had been his so that he could throw up in private.

The Doctor watched him go, his expression turning concerned when Jack was out of sight. After a moment’s thought, he worked the controls, selecting a general destination and assuring himself the TARDIS was on its way before walking back in the direction Jack had gone, sighing when he found the other man hunched over the toilet.

"I see you made it here at least."

"Nice t’see that it hasn’t changed since the last time I was on it," Jack muttered, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand before getting shakily to his feet. "Martha’s married, by the way. Works for UNIT now. Wedding was nice, her family’s insane though."

The Doctor’s smile turned wistful as he nodded. "The last time I checked, she was the retired head of UNIT and a great-grandmother—her family was still insane."

"Must be nice to be able to leapfrog through time instead of having to live it day after plodding day," Jack sighed wistfully. "A great-grandmother, hunh?," Jack managed to get out without thinking about how he’d never have the chance to be a great-grandfather by his own actions. He’d move on eventually; all pains dulled and became old wounds, and yet it felt different this time. "And she made head of UNIT no less. Go, Martha Jones. She always did have ambition. I was hoping she’d come over to Torchwood and take Owen’s place after he… but then again, at least with UNIT she got to live, didn’t she?"

"That she did, as did the rest of the world."

"You keep saying that, and one day it will make a difference but not yet. It’s still too fresh, too raw. MI-5 blew me up, did I tell you that? Stuck a bomb in my stomach and I went ka-boom. Being knit back together didn’t hurt this much. It couldn’t have."

"Emotions are our greatest ally and our most terrible weakness," the Doctor nodded. "It’s only the strong who can go against what their heart tells them is right to do. What you have to decide, Jack, is what’s right for you—but not right now, you’ve had much too much to drink to be contemplating that. You need a bed and hopefully sleep. You won’t dream; the TARDIS can give you that."

"Hey, whaddya know, a silver lining." Jack’s laugh was pained. "And I’ll wake up in the morning without so much as a hangover or an STD to show for the bender I’ve been on the last couple of months." Staggering into the room, Jack haphazardly stripped off his clothes and then caught up the RAF greatcoat, clutching it to his chest as if it were a life raft, or a security blanket, or possibly both. "Last thing he ever gave me," Jack murmured. "Gotta take care of this one. It has to last forever."

The Doctor gently took Jack’s arm and guided him over toward the bed, tucking both man and coat under the covers. "We’ll look into helping you with that when you wake up. Now get some rest, Captain; you aren’t alone."

"I know," Jack admitted. "Gwen said the same thing, but she’s got Rhys and the baby, and babies are... bad for me to be around right now, you know?" Jack sighed. "I’m sorry too, I know you understand better than anyone what it’s like. You lost Rose. But at least she’s alive there, right? That’s gotta be some comfort. At least your Rose is alive...somewhere." Jack’s voice trailed off as he finally lost the fight and fell into a dreamless sleep thanks to the TARDIS.

"Somewhere," the Doctor murmured before a thoughtful look stole over his features. "And possibly..." After making sure Jack was asleep, he left the room, heading for the control room to put the beginnings of a plan into motion.

~*~*~

Rose Tyler-Smith looked up from the plans and schematics and shot a wicked grin at the man who was her best friend, her lover, her reason for being and, oh yeah, her husband. "It may not be the TARDIS, but it’s bloody brilliant!" she grinned as she finally sussed out what he’d been working on. These were ‘Doctor’ additions to the Valiant, the Doctor in question being the regenerated human version of the original Gallifreyan Doctor who’d first swept Rose away after saving her from alien mannequins and torching the shop where she’d worked at the same time. He called himself John Smith now, or Doctor Smith, or just ‘Doc’, as he was affectionately known to the majority of the Torchwood staff and field ops teams.

The Valiant was a prototype helicarrier designed to Doctor Smith’s specifications but with none of the extras that he wanted. The air ship was an international collaboration under the banner of the United Nations for use by Torchwood to help deal with the new reality of the world knowing for certain they were not alone in the universe. However, that being said, there were some things that the governments of the world didn’t need to know, which was why Doc was currently redesigning some of the key systems in what was to become the Torchwood Armoured Rapid Deployment Inter-temporal Staffed Transport, or the TARDIS for short.

It had already been decided that Torchwood London would remain in command of all Torchwood operations and the other offices would answer to whomever Rose and Doc would appoint when they were gone on one of their jaunts. Cardiff would still have the Hub as it monitored the rift, or wormhole, that for some reason was anchored in Cardiff, Wales—just like the one in her old universe, smaller but no less bothersome. However, that was still some time away. For now she continued to watch John as he was adding some additional touches to his schematic for a large scale vortex manipulator.

Once Rose had twigged to what the schematic was for, it has been easy for her to figure out what her husband planned to do with it. He was going to build it and install it in the Valiant, thereby turning the flying command post into another TARDIS of sorts. And it was all thanks to that irrepressible reprobate Jack Harkness and his time agent wrist strap. Wouldn’t he get a laugh out of that, if he only knew.

"Do we have what you need to build it here on Earth, or can we get it, do you think? We’ve got quite a few contacts throughout this galaxy now, thanks to being responsible for putting the universe back to the way it ought to be, oh great and glorious ‘Oncoming Storm’."

"Oi! Are you saying I can’t do it myself?" John huffed. "I think I deserve a kiss for that."

"I’m saying that even the Oncoming Storm has limitations without so much as a sonic screwdriver for screwing things," Rose snickered but reached across the table to catch hold of Doc’s tie and tug him half across it for a peck on the cheek. "That’s just a sample, sir; we don’t give our merchandise away for free, you know," Rose said in her best shopgirl voice. "However, I may be willing to take it out in trade… say for finished schematics?"

"Oh, now that’s just cold, Rose. I mean, really now—what would, say, a rough draft get me?"

"A quickie in the boss’s office. Oh, wait, I _am_ the boss!" Rose finished with an over the top widening of her eyes. "So maybe I’ll let you sit in the chair and I’ll sit on you, then."

"You may want to tell Donna to knock off early then—that would honestly be too close to having a part of myself listening," Doc mused.

"I’m hoping _all_ of you will be listening," Rose purred as she slowly backed away, her fingers sliding along Doc’s horrid tie as she did so. "How about you get rid of the lads and I’ll get rid of your better half," Rose laughed as she headed off to tell Donna to go get gussied up for her date with that hot emergency doctor she’d met last week, Patinjali or something.

"Consider them gone," Doc murmured as he pulled off his glasses, tucking them in his suit pocket as he headed out to shoo off the field teams in the pit below the office area.

"God, I love it when he actually listens," Rose chuckled to herself as she headed through the glass doors that separated her assistant from the rest of the office and acted as a buffer zone between her office and the rest of the world. "Donna, go get dolled up for your doctor, and bugger off so I can have some fun with mine," Rose informed the opinionated redhead with a grin.

"Oi! If you’re gonna have sex in that office, I do _not_ want to know!" Donna demanded with a shudder. "It’d be like having sex with you m’self… I mean if I was his nibs… which I kind of am but I’m not. Oh whatever, I’m leaving. Don’t leave body fluids behind!" she ordered as she breezed out of the door, her instructions as much to the man waiting to come in as to her boss.

"What do you care?" Doc called after her, "it’s not as if you’d be cleaning them or anything. Now then, I believe you and I had an appointment with that large table..."

~*~*~

Rose looked up from the latest ‘Wild Boys’ report that she’d been tutting over for the last half hour, thankful for the distraction of her husband walking into the office. "That’s four Torchwood vehicles in as many months," she grimaced at Doc. "I’m running out of excuses as to why the ‘company’ vehicles keep ending up squashed, set on fire, irradiated or blown up with alien technology. I wonder what excuse they’ll come with nex… what’s wrong?"

"We have a visitor." Doc seemed as if he didn’t know how he felt about the situation.

"We have many visitors, luv; you’ll have to be a little more specific than that," Rose replied although she carefully put her reports away and gave Doc her full attention. "So, gonna fill me in?"

"This may be a case where seeing is better than telling."

"Okay, you’re beginning to scare me now," Rose replied nervously as her mind leapt to both plausible and implausible scenarios, finally vocalizing the one that terrified her the most. "I’m not letting you go, just so we’re clear on that, okay? He gave you to me, and I’m keeping you, dammit!"

Doc reached out and caught her hands, pulling her in for a kiss. "I’m here to stay. Now come on, you really need to see him."

"Him?!? Him who? John? John!" Rose demanded as she was tugged through the doors towards his lab. "Dammit, Doctor, as head of Torchwood, I demand answers right no… cor blimey!"

"Hi, Rose," Jack said quietly from where he stood by the window that overlooked Canada Square and beyond that, Canary Wharf. "Long time no see. Although time is relative and all that."

"And before you ask, yes, he’s the Jack from your universe," Doc put in.

"And I can’t go back. Not that I want to go back but the Doctor, ah, the _other_ Doctor was very specific about this being a one-way trip, but I’m okay with that. I… I have nothing to go back for," Jack replied, his voice cracking ever so slightly under his emotions.

And it was more than enough to break Rose out of her shock. Before she knew it, she was across the room, arms thrown around her old friend’s neck, tugging Jack down to her shoulder. "Jack Harkness, oh, how I’ve missed dancing with you, you great lout," she whispered as she held him tight, looking back over her shoulder at her husband as the man in her arms shuddered silently and held on for dear life.

Doc crossed over after Rose and rested a hand on Jack’s back. "And as I said before, you’re welcome here; you might even enjoy the fact that it’s quieter."

"Quiet is good," Jack choked out. "I’m so tired of being the big damned hero all the time, especially when I never manage to save the ones that count the most," he admitted after a while. "I couldn’t save them, Rose, Doctor… it was my fault, and I couldn’t save them."

"You may not have been able to save them, Jack, but it wasn’t your fault," Doc said gently. "Sometimes you can’t, no matter how much you want to."

"If I’d just stayed out of Alice and Steven’s lives, they’d be alive right now," Jack whispered. "If I hadn’t loved them, if I’d let Ianto continue to blame me for Lisa’s death instead of fall in love with me, he’d have been safe with Gwen instead of standing next to me when the shit hit the fan. But I was selfish; I wanted some happiness for myself, no matter how transitory it was. God, I’m a prick."

"Bollocks," Doc stated flatly, the part of his personality added by Donna making itself known. "The fact that you loved him did not make him die. Were you happy together? Was he happy with you?"

"Honestly? I don’t know. I loved him, but I never told him, not until he was dead," Jack admitted. "He wanted to be a couple, and I was… less than enthusiastic about it. But I did love him. God, who wouldn’t? I don’t think that there was a person alive who could dislike Ianto Jones—well, human person anyway."

Doc looked over at Rose at that, his eyebrows raised in recognition of the name. "You’re going to have to find a way to make your peace with him and yourself, Captain."

"It’s easy to make peace with the dead, Doctor. They’re dead," Jack replied bitterly.

"Jack, let’s not think about it today, okay?" Rose interjected before Doc could let the cat out of the bag about Ianto. This would require some careful handling—she’d never seen Jack so bitter. Even when facing death, he’d always managed to find the humor in everything—smiling through it all.

At least they had some breathing room before they had to deal with it as the Wild Boys had Cardiff Rift duty for the next three weeks, having just gone on Rift rotation last week, Rose remembered with some relief. "You’ll stay with Doc and me. And while you’re adjusting to this reality, I’ll get Donna to get started on the paperwork to make you an identity. If you want something to do, I’m sure Doc will be grateful for a hand—he’s trying to build a vortex manipulator big enough to turn the Valiant into a TARDIS of sorts."

"Ah yes," Doc enthused, stepping back and rubbing his hands together. "We probably won’t get all of time and space, but if everything works correctly, she’ll get us around nicely—oh, and it’s John Smith now, that or Doc. The Doctor is, well, him. He chose his life; I have mine.

Doc stopped talking for a second before raising a finger and pointing it at Jack. "And making peace with the dead is the hardest thing of all because, in effect, you’re making peace with yourself, and you are your own harshest critic."

"God, you may be entirely different entities, but you still sound like him," Jack muttered. "I think I liked you better as a hand."

Rose burst into laughter at that. "No offense, Jack, but I prefer him a man instead of a hand, thanks. I have much more fun with Doc the way he is now."

Jack’s eyes lit up in amusement for the first time since he arrived. "Rose Tyler, more tenacious than even Scotland Yard. Looks like you finally got your Time Lord."

"Well, I am part Donna Noble—the Donna Noble where he is," Doc pointed out with a wry grin.

"Waaait a minute. She hit on me!" Jack groused insincerely. "Does this mean that because you’re part her, you’re going to hit on me too? Because if you did, I’d have to decline; I like Rose too much, and she really sort of scares me too, what with that big gun of hers and all," Jack deadpanned.

Doc slipped an arm around Rose’s waist at that. "He liked you as well, but no, I’m quite happy with my wife, so you’re safe from me—now, our version of Donna might prove to be different."

"You’re married—good," Jack grinned, ignoring the other man’s comment about this reality’s Donna. There were some lines even Jack wouldn’t cross—not many but that was one of them! "I like happy endings. My Martha Jones got married a few weeks, or is it months ago? I’ve kind of lost track—too much wine, women and song, you know how that goes. Anyhow, married, yes, a nice man, doctor of medicine, not of time. She works for UNIT now. Do they have a UNIT here?

"Nope, no UNIT, just us. And Britain is a democracy with a President—President Harriet Jones. But you’ve got all the time in the world to learn all this, pardon my pun. C’mon, boys. Let’s go home and have a drink. I’ve got _my_ Doc, and I’ve got my dance partner back. This calls for champagne!"


	2. Chapter 2

The double doors leading to the waiting room outside of Rose Tyler’s office burst open, admitting four men dressed in black fatigues. "Hey, beautiful," the shortest member of the group, a blond whose hair was mostly covered with a black ball cap he wore backwards, crowed, "did you miss us?"

"Like the bloody plague," Donna Noble sighed before yelping as another of the men, this one lean and with dark hair, snuck up behind her and gave her a hug.

"Oh, you did and you know it!"

"I did not miss your groping, Ross Jenkins!"

"Pray tell then, just whose groping did you miss?" the oldest of the group, a man who was also the tallest and most muscular, asked.

"Not yours either, Tom Milligan."

"Ahh, then it must have been mine." The last member spoke from where he lounged against the wall. "Imagine, Jake, our good Dr. Milligan isn’t up to snuff for Donna."

"That’s because Donna doesn’t think any of you pack of puppies is appealing at all," the redhead huffed. "And did the four of you manage to bring back a vehicle in one piece this time?"

"Does one squashed piece count?" Ross asked innocently.

"You can have a lovely time explaining it to Rose then."

"We were just on our way to do that, planning on announcing us?" the man leaning against the wall asked, favoring her with a bright smile.

"You lot... Rose, the Wild Boys are back... Yes, they’re all alive though it may not last for long. Go on in, boys, and don’t - "

"We know," the four chorused as they headed for the door to Rose’s office, "don’t touch anything and keep the feet off the furniture."

Rose was sitting behind her desk, chair facing the window as she tried to figure out how to do this. She’d become proficient at the whole HR thing by necessity more than interest; at her heart she was still Rose Tyler from Powell Estate who worked as a shop girl and had an overwhelming craving for chips when she needed comfort food. Doc had faith in her, as did Donna, her teams and even the President of Britain - would she ever get used to Britain being a democracy? - but at times like this the little girl from the less posh side of town reared her belligerent head.

Behind her the door opened and her four favorite ‘lads’ poured in, pushing and shoving and joking about, having more in common with a pack of mongrels than the ‘wild boys’ they claimed to be. Any other time she’d smile and crack a joke, joining in their good mood, but today she felt like she had the weight of a whole different universe on her shoulders. More importantly, she felt she carried the possible future happiness and mental stability of the little slice of home that had suddenly appeared in her life - Jack Harkness. "Oi! knock it off, you four; this isn’t nursery school, you know!"

All four of them blinked in surprise, not used to being dressed down by their superior in this fashion. Ross and Tom, revealing their military backgrounds, straightened to attention while Jake crossed his arms over his chest and lifted his chin as the street-renegade part of his personality came to the fore. The three remained quiet, waiting for their team leader to speak and hopefully smooth things over with Rose.

"Is this about the SUV?" Ianto Jones asked, deciding to keep things light and see if he could find out what was going on. "Because you know, gravity singularity, not quite expected, and we did get the tech away from the bloke who found it."

Rose sighed and pinched her nose - leave it to Ianto to remind her of her other ongoing headache - but had to smile nonetheless. "Smart arse," she muttered as she pivoted her chair to face them. "Oh, sit yourselves down; I’m not gonna ream you out over the SUV _s_ that you’ve destroyed this quarter alone. Next one’s coming out of your collective salaries, by the way.

"No, it’s not about the cars. Have I ever told you the real story of Rose Tyler?" she asked after a lengthy pause. "Not the made up bubble gum one that the world at large knows."

"We know bits," Ross answered as they all dropped into the comfortable chairs facing Rose’s desk.

"Jake tells us what he knows on a need-to-know basis," Ianto confirmed.

"You’re from another universe, you and your mum," Tom continued. "You came here with - and forgive me if I’m not quite clear here - another version of Doc."

"And helped stop Lumic," Jake ended.

"Need to know, hmmm?" Rose shot Jake a hairy eyeball. "Do you and I need to have another talk about the definition of need to know?" she asked with mock sternness, buying herself some time and distance to figure out where to begin the story that would affect the lives of not just Jack but the happy-go-lucky leader of the Wild Boys as well. Because like it or not, Ianto Jones was just as much the star of this story as Jack, just a slightly different make and model, so to speak.

"First and foremost, what I’m going to tell you never gets discussed beyond you four, Doc and... the person this story involves, at least until they want it discussed," she quickly amended and then glared pointedly at the door. "That means you can get your bloody ear away from the keyhole, Donna Noble. Off to lunch with you!" Rose called out, laughing softly when she heard grumbling and the distant sounds of a desk drawer being opened and then closed rather forcefully.

Holding up her finger to silence the lads, Rose waited a ten count then reached under her desk and pressed a button. There was a soft hum, and then all the ambient noise that was all around them but no one really heard suddenly ceased, leaving the room as quiet as a tomb. "Didn’t want her walking in just to see if we’d suddenly disappeared - the side effects of walking through the cascade are rather debilitating, not to mention unpleasant," she said matter-of-factly.

"Now where were we? Oh yes, story time. Once upon a time there was a shop girl from East London who met a Time Lord quite by accident, and her life suddenly became so very exciting, and she got to meet all sorts of _interesting_ people, but one of the most interesting of all was a certain captain named Jack who loved to dance..."

Almost an hour later, Rose watched the lads in general and Ianto in particular try to digest the life and times of Rose, the Doctor and Captain Jack Harkness as well as deal with knowing that one of their other selves had been Jack’s lover and was now dead, having sacrificed himself for Earth in order to stand by the man he loved until the bitter end. "Well, I did warn you it was quite a story," she said after long moments of silence.

"So this Jack," Jake began before grinning with gallows humor, "is he hot?"

"Apparently Ianto thinks so," Tom laughed, joining in on the teasing.

"Hey, be nice to him," Ross called, "he’s dead."

Ianto leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees and steepling his fingers in front of his chin. "All right, so this story obviously has a purpose, and it is?"

"How does a man who cannot die commit suicide?" Rose asked instead. "Luckily, we may never know the answer to that because the Doctor, the _Time Lord_ Doctor, found his friend and found a way to let him leave a universe of heartache behind.

"My dear friend Jack is right at this very moment helping Doc in his lab with the new upgrades for the Valiant. Jack Harkness belongs to us now, and we’re going to help get him back to as close to his old self as we can but... well, I didn’t want you all to freak out if a strange man suddenly stopped dead and stared at Ianto like his world was ending all over again," Rose sighed.

"Jack has a special fondness for our Doc as he grew out of the hand that Jack carried around for centuries," she said with a morbid chuckle. "So Doc is going to tell Jack about our Ianto so that he doesn’t... do anything rash," Rose continued, "but like I said, I just wanted you to be aware of it.

"As for how hot he is - you’ll have to figure it out for yourself. He’ll be the man walking around in a blue RAF greatcoat; can’t miss it - or him."

Ianto was quiet as the others parried back and forth about the situation, coming up with one absurd situation after another for their meeting of the mysterious Jack, and when he finally spoke, it was directed at Rose. "So, would you rather I head back out, give him more of a chance to acclimatize, or get this over with quick and dirty?"

Rose was about to respond when movement behind the boys caught her eye. Sighing, Rose murmured, "Too late." Jack stood in the doorway, a silent sentinel frozen in time, his eyes riveted on the one face he’d never thought he’d see again.

It was one of the biggest negatives of the cascade shield that while people couldn’t hear in you also couldn’t hear out. Normally, Rose would have activated the motion sensors placed strategically around Donna’s work station cum reception area, but she’d seen no reason to today, an obvious mistake.

Doc hovered behind Jack, his expression torn between worry for their friend and fond exasperation for Rose’s forgetfulness. The cat was well and truly out of the bag now, Rose thought to herself as she turned off the cascade and sounds from the outside world flooded back in, and the four field agents turned to see who she was staring at, their hands automatically reaching for their sidearms.

"Ianto," Jack’s anguished whisper resonated through the room, and then he was gone, the man abruptly turning on his heel and pushing past Doc, disappearing as quickly as he’d appeared.

"Well, that could have gone better," Doc sighed as he ambled into the room and perched on the corner of Rose’s desk. "Wouldn’t even let me finish my rather brilliant speech, just bolted up here as if an army of Daleks were after him.

"Right then, so how’re you boys doing? Destroy another car yet?"

"Oh yeah, he’s hot," Jake said under his breath, causing Tom to reach out and cuff him on the back of the head.

Ross looked around the group then back at the empty doorway. "Someone going to go after him?"

"Well, I don’t think it should be me," Ianto put in though he too was still looking in the direction the anguished man had gone.

"Do you want it to be Jake?" Doc asked with an affable smile and a waggle of his eyebrows.

"I’ll go," Rose said, pushing up and away from her desk. "Let’s face it, you lot are useless when it comes to emotional trauma - even when you’re up to your neck in it. And, no, Jake, being bi or gay or whatever doesn’t mean that you’re any better equipped to handle it," Rose finished with a slight chuckle, cutting him off before he could do more than open his mouth.

"Men, useless the lot of you unless there’s an itch to scratch or a spider to kill," she teased, bussing a kiss over Doc’s temple. "Play nice with the boys, and keep them out of the lab. I don’t trust any of you not to blow up my building!"

"Hey now," came the almost universal response from the males.

"We never blow things up that we don’t mean to," Tom protested.

"Well, most of the time, anyway," Ianto chuckled.

Rose’s snort of derision was her only response as she headed out into the reception area, only to find Donna at her desk instead of at lunch.

"Wot? Did you think I’d miss all the excitement? The beefcake went that way, by the way," Donna grinned up at her boss, pointing a thumb at the left hallway. "Hey, is there another one like him somewhere? Because if there is, I’m calling dibs!" she called out as Rose took off in the same direction.

"Jack!"

Jack spun on his heel, eyes wild and pained as he stared at his diminutive blonde friend with accusatory eyes. "You knew! Dammit, Rose, you knew Ianto was not only alive in this universe but he worked _here_ , and you didn’t tell me!"

"And what would you have done if I’d told you right off, Jack?" Rose shot back. "Run again? This is your home. We’re family, you and I, and you bloody well know it. You belong here. The Doctor gave you to me, and I’m keeping you too!"

"I’m not your Doc, and I’m not a pet, Rose."

"No, you’re my Captain and my friend," Rose replied. "And you’re my responsibility. I did this to you, Jack," she whispered, her lips quivering as she tried to contain her emotions, but her eyes already swimming with unshed tears. "I wanted so much for you to live that I did this; I gave you this pain. And I need the chance to make at least a small part of it right again. Maybe… maybe this could be your second chance, to get things right… with Ianto."

Jack could never stand there and let a pretty woman cry, even when that was all he wanted to do himself. Wrapping his arms around Rose’s shoulders, Jack tugged her forward and tucked her head under his chin before burying his face in her hair to hide his own wet eyes. "Can’t do it, Rose," he whispered. "Losing him once nearly destroyed me. He’s still mortal; he’ll still grow old and die; and I’ll be left alone again. Everyone leaves me eventually, Rose; it’s just the way it is," Jack’s voice was a strangled whisper. "So why should I court pain? Better to not get involved, not get attached and then my heart won’t shatter completely when I lose the next one. And the next one. And the next one."

"Oh Jack, I’m _so_ sorry!" Rose wailed.

"Hey, _hey!_ Sorry for what, Rose? For giving me my life back? For letting me come back to you and the Doctor? Sorry for giving me a purpose like protecting Earth? Never be sorry for that, Rose. Don’t even be sorry for Ianto because as much as it kills me to remember, one day it won’t, and I’ll be able to remember the man who made me human again and how much I still love him, will still love him, even when the universe finally winks out around me."


	3. Chapter 3

"So what do you think?" Tom asked Ianto a week later as the team changed out of their fatigues and into street clothes.

"About what?"

"Oh come on," Jake scoffed. "Stud from another universe who was in love with another version of you. What do you think he’s talking about?"

"My own sloppy seconds? No thanks," Ianto chuckled as he pulled a skin-tight black t-shirt over his head and tucked it into his faded jeans, buttoning and zipping them and sliding a worn black leather belt through the loops.

"Besides, I heard that Lisa from accounting was going to the club tonight," Ross announced before meowing like a cat in heat. "Anyone ever tell you that you suck, Jones?"

"I have!" Jake announced with a snicker as he brushed his hair and ran his fingers through it so that it spiked up.

"Yeah, we all know you know that from personal experience," Tom snorted.

"And I meant because he bounces on both sides of the fence so he manages to snag everyone," Ross added, making Ianto smirk.

"Terrible life, isn’t it? And I’m heading out, you lot coming or finding your own ride?"

As Ross and Tom called out their agreement, Jake declined. "Have a few things to do myself, see you later if they don’t run over."

"We want details in the morning!" the others crowed as they walked out, leaving Jake to check himself over a final time before strolling through the mostly deserted halls, heading toward the apartments where Torchwood housed guests who elected to avoid local hotels.

Finding the room he had been searching for, he knocked on the door, then leaned against the jamb, waiting to see if it would be answered.

 ~*~*~

Jack contemplated ignoring the door but then figured it could be Rose or Doc… and didn’t that take some getting used to, calling him John or Doc instead of Doctor. Bringing with him the tumbler of whiskey that was almost overflowing, Jack heaved himself up off the couch, out of lifetimes’ worth of habit drawing his sidearm as he peeked through the spy hole… and fought the urge to bang his head against the door.

Jack was going to turn around, sit his ass on the couch and continue getting absolutely shit faced, but instead he found himself opening the door.　 "Well, well, well, if it isn’t Mickey’s friend Jake. Fancy meeting you here. Did Rose happen to send you to check up on me?" he asked the Alpha Team’s munitions expert with a shadow of his former flirtatious smirk.

"Did that of my own initiative," the blond laughed before nodding at Jack’s drink. "Looks like there’s enough for two there, feel like sharing?"

Jack contemplated telling him no but… he was so damned tired of being alone, and Jake was both familiar and free of baggage. Maybe Doc was right, maybe it was time to lay his ghosts to rest.

"What the hell," he said after a moment’s hesitation. "I’m probably lousy company, but I’d rather drink with a friend than with a ghost.　 C’mon in."

"Thanks," Jake said easily as he walked past Jack, glancing around the small apartment and noting it was functional but showed nothing personal other than the other man’s navy greatcoat hanging over the back of the sofa. "And it looks like I’ll have to catch up – with the scotch and the information because it sounds like you know about me." He reached back and plucked the glass from Jack’s hand, taking a deep drink before handing it back.

Jack’s left eyebrow slid up at Jake’s’ actions, but he said nothing as he accepted the glass, taking a drink of his own.　 "I knew Mickey Smith," he said simply.　 "We traveled together with the Doctor for a while, and then after he came back from here, I kept an eye on him, both as a favor to Rose and to make sure he was okay. But then he had to go and ask for all sorts of advice; we eventually went from being casual acquaintances with a mutual history to being friends of sorts. I’d drop in whenever I was down in London for business and sometimes just because I wanted to spend some time away from Cardiff. He’s a good guy."

"Yes, he is," Jake nodded, dropping down onto the sofa and stretching his legs out in front of him. "Think I freaked him out some at first when I told him Ricky and I had been involved, but we worked well together, had some fun too."

"Freaked was putting it mildly," Jack laughed easily at the memory. "What do you think he was asking me for advice about? The latest fashions?"

Green eyes raked over Jack’s length before sandy brows rose as Jake held his hand out for the glass again. "He needed some help there, and you’ve got a certain sense of style."

"Don’t think Mickey could pull off my style, though," Jack replied, tugging his braces over his shoulders, leaving them to hang off his pants. "Nah, truth was you had him confused as all hell by the end.　 He was _supposed_ to be in love with Rose, but you… you were the proverbial bad penny – always tempting him to pick you up and play with you."

Jake blinked in surprise at the statement. "Never showed it. He was easy to get going, but I never saw any attraction from him, and believe me, I knew what he looked like when he was attracted."

"You knew what Ricky looked like when he was attracted," Jack countered. "Not Mickey. And he’d never been attracted to guys before, so he sublimated.　 And since he knew me and knew I had certain, shall we say, proclivities, he figured I was the best person to ask for advice. And to try flirting with.　 I let him practice, patted him on the head and pointed him towards an equal opportunity bar. He’s mostly straight but a little bent, at least he was last time I looked in on him," Jack grinned, taking another swallow of his scotch.

"Good for him, everyone deserves a chance to be happy, and that wasn’t going to happen with Rose, even before Doc got here." Jake leaned over to take the glass again, frowning when he saw there wasn’t anything left in it. "And that includes you too, Jack Harkness," he added before leaning in, getting his taste of liquor from Jack’s mouth.

Jack, who’d opened his mouth to tell Jake that he’d had his shot at happy, found that mouth was promptly invaded by Jake’s tongue.　 It was like setting a spark to dry tinder at the base of a parched forest - instant conflagration. There’d been times in the past where he’d had a dry spell, but he couldn’t remember any lasting this long except when he’d been dead and buried for nearly two thousand years. Lust swept through Jack; fuck, but he’d missed this sort of human contact.　 However…

Pulling back slightly, Jack eyed Jake carefully. "I don’t do commitments; I don’t do relationships – not any more. I’ll fuck you, but I won’t be your boyfriend or your lover, and we sure as hell will never be a couple. I will, however, still respect you in the morning and still treat you like I am right now. Nothing changes.　 You still want to do this?"

Jake’s lips curved into a wicked smile as he set the glass on the floor, then placed his hand over Jack’s crotch. "It’s sex, Jack; it feels good; it makes your partner feel good if you do it right; there doesn’t have to be more."

"The Doctor once told someone that I’d flirt with and fuck anything that was sentient – and he was pretty much correct. It’s hard to have a relationship when you can’t stick around long enough to grow old with them because you don’t grow old. I tried it a few times, and each time ended even more badly than the last. So I’ve decided that it’s not worth the pain; my last attempt damn near destroyed me, and it left me damaged goods. I can’t do it again; I can’t give anyone anything more than a fantastic fuck," Jack admitted. "And since we seem to be on the same page about the fucking part of it…"　

Jack didn’t even bother to try to move this into the bedroom; he merely reached over and hauled Jake across the chesterfield and onto his lap and proceeded to reclaim Jake’s mouth as nimble fingers went to work on his clothes, Jake doing the same as much as he was able until the both of them were naked and lying back on the sofa, Jake’s hands roaming over Jack’s back and down to his ass, pulling them closer as he hooked a leg over Jack’s hips.

"I can pretty much guarantee that I don’t have any diseases because I haven’t died lately, and even if you do, I’ll just get better, so can we be irresponsible and dispense with the need for condoms?" Jack asked in between exploring Jake’s mouth, jaw and chest with fingers and tongue.

"Wouldn’t matter if you did," Jake chuckled, arching into the touch as he trailed his fingers up the crack of Jack’s ass. "Torchwood inoculations are damn good things."

"Glad to hear it," Jack murmured before biting down on one of Jake’s nipples. "Seeing as how it’s your ass that’s gonna be leaking cum," he informed Jake with a wicked smirk. "I plan on fucking you stupid and then doing it again."

"You expect me to complain about this?" Jake’s tone was incredulous, and he squirmed and threaded his fingers through Jack’s hair as Jack bit him again.

"Some people don’t like to bottom – never understood that myself, but hey, it doesn’t affect us right now, so who gives a fuck?" Jack murmured, nipping and biting and soothing all the while as he worked his way steadily lower.

"Why limit yourself, right?" Jake asked, gasping when Jack hit a sensitive spot near his hipbone.

Hearing the reaction above him, Jack smiled into Jake’s hip and then redoubled his efforts to really work the spot over, all the while leaving his hands fee to pinch and pull and stroke. "Definitely a smart one, aren’t you?" he murmured against Jake’s stomach.

"Shh," Jake groaned, squirming so that his cock rubbed against Jack’s chin, "don’t want it to get out."

"Don’t worry, your secret’s safe with me,"　Jack chuckled and then ducked down the remaining few inches and took Jake’s cock into his mouth, deep-throating him in one smooth motion.

"Oh bloody fuck!" Jake howled, his hand fisting in Jack’s hair as he bucked upward the moment Jack started to pull back.

Jack chuckled around his mouthful, the vibrations carrying into Jake’s flesh as he took a quick breath of air and then forced his way back down again, a hand coming up to roll and tug on Jake’s balls lightly.

"Got slick in my pants pocket," Jake murmured, rocking his hips in time with the bobbing of Jack’s head over him.

"You’re still talking," Jack groused, pulling up and off of Jake. "I must be losing my touch. You should be non-verbal." And with that he dove back in, intent on making Jake lose all semblance of speech even as he fumbled for the pants and the bottle of lubricant. It seemed that young Mr. Simmonds was a boy scout and a pornographic one at that. Jack was impressed.

When Jack pushed a wet finger inside him, Jake moaned, writhing between the heat of Jack’s mouth and the slight pressure of the finger in his ass.

Humming his approval, Jack let his body take over and his mind shut down.　 He was all for losing himself in the oblivion of a hard and dirty fuck. Since Jake didn’t seem to mind either, Jack decided to just go with it. Working his throat muscles in order to maximize sensation for Jake, Jack inserted one, then a second and finally a third finger into Jake’s ass, twisting and plunging them in and out of the easily loosened hole, always making sure to hit Jake’s prostate sporadically, just to add a bit more zing.

"Rather come with you in me," Jake managed to get out, slinging a leg over the back of the sofa to open himself up more for Jack and moaning when that increased the pressure on his prostate.

"Mmmm," Jack hummed, licking one last stripe along Jake’s cock. "You want it, you got it," he whispered, using his already lubed hand to stroke his cock a few times, just enough so that he could work his way in with only a small amount of friction. He wanted Jake to feel it, every inch, and every pull.　

Jack wanted Jake looking fucked out, rode hard and put away wet.　 He wanted Jake’s teammates to know that Jake had had the fucking of his life tonight, even if they didn’t know by whom. And a very closely guarded part of him wanted Ianto to figure it out and decide that Jack belonged to him, not Jake and make Jack know it too.

Sealing his mouth over Jake’s in a hungry kiss, Jack guided his cock by a combination of skill and touch, aligning its tip to Jake’s hole and then pushed in steadily, inch by inch, filling Jake completely.　 "Hold on tight, Jake Simmonds, I’m about to give you the ride of your life," Jack promised with a dirty chuckle as he began to move his hips, fucking in and out of Jake with increasing speed, hips twisting and circling as he began to ream the younger man out.

Jake was by no means a ‘lie back and take it’ kind of guy, and he met Jack’s every stroke, arching up against him and clenching down on the hard length within him, groaning as they slammed together, at times threatening to topple the sofa over with the force of their movements. His fingers dragged dull red stripes across Jack’s back as they bit into his flesh, and he sat up enough to catch the older man’s mouth, fucking it with his tongue just as thoroughly as his ass was being pounded by Jack’s cock.

"That’s it," Jack grunted as he was met thrust for thrust," take it, c’mon take it," he muttered over and over again, his mouth and teeth and nails leaving his own blueprint on Jake’s flesh.　 He bit and sucked and scratched, even drawing blood a few times, as he continued to fuck into Jake with such violence that they finally rolled off the couch and onto the floor with a thud.　

Jack’s hips never slowed even though he was now under Jake, the younger man doing the riding, for all intents and purposes. One hand dug finger-shaped bruises into Jake’s left hip while the other wrapped around his cock and began to milk it with squeezing strokes.　 "Giddy up," Jack purred, his voice full of carnal heat as he brought his knees up to act as a back brace.　 "Your turn – ride ‘em, cowboy!"

Jake whooped out a credible cowboy yell as he levered himself on Jack’s body, working both of them as he rocked between the thick cock in his ass and the strong hand squeezing his shaft. His own hands were braced on Jack’s broad chest for balance, and he rubbed his thumbs over the circles of Jack’s nipples, pinching and tugging at them as they peaked tighter.

Jack laughed freely for the first time since the children stopped all those weeks ago, not even thinking about anything or anyone other than the amusing, good looking and deliciously fuckable man riding his cock like a bronco buster.　 "Ever done it _while_ riding a horse?" he leered.　 "Lemme tell you, it’s a whole lot of fun!"

He slid the hand clutching Jake’s hip back under the curve of that sweet bubble butt and slid his index finger up to where his cock was pistoning in and out of Jake’s body, caressing the highly aroused nerve endings with the lightest of feather touches. "Wanna see what kind of distance you get when you shoot – think you can actually get it in my mouth?"

Jake’s mouth curved into an amused smile before he gasped in pleasure as Jack’s finger pushed inside next to his cock. "You planning on aiming me?" he panted, knowing he was close and soon it wouldn’t matter where he was aimed.

"You work for Torchwood," Jack huffed as he somehow managed to shift his angle so that he was constantly pounding into Jake’s prostate. "Having perfect aim is a prerequisite, isn’t it?" Jack shifted impossibly and shuffled his way into a semi reclining position against the back of the couch, his arm trapped between his knees and Jake’s body, but it put him in the perfect position to lean forward and chew on Jake’s nipples to add just that little extra bite of sensation.

The combination of sensations finally proved too much for Jake, and he threw back his head and yowled, his cock pulsing in Jack’s hand, making the other man pull back enough to catch the gouting streams of semen in his mouth, several droplets missing and running down his chin.

Jack shuddered at the tightening of Jake’s ass around his cock but managed a few more strokes before he was throwing his head back with an inaudible gasp, then going almost boneless as he continued to shudder and pulse while coming down.　 It took a while for his brain to reboot, but when it did, he smacked his lips together loudly and shot Jake a wicked grin.　 "Gotta commend your shooting instructor; that was better than perfect aim, a gold star for Jake Simmonds."

"Shooting and driving, got top marks in those," Jake murmured as he managed a graceful roll off Jack’s lap to lie sprawled out beside him on the floor, sighing as the bunched muscles in his thighs relaxed. "Pretty good technique there too, we can share the star."

"Really?" Jack laughed. "And here I was going to apologize for my lack of technique – it’s been a while for me, and I was on edge." Sliding down so that he was wedged between Jake and the sofa, Jack pulled Jake in for a lazy kiss.　 He was a tactile man, and he’d been denying his need for contact for too long, so it was almost impossible to stop touching, kissing and petting Jake. "For the record, Mickey missed out on one helluva good thing; you’re aces."

"I’ll remind you to tell Rose that come review time," Jake chuckled, one hand stroking over Jack’s thigh as he reclined half-lying over the other man’s lap. "Might get me a raise."

"I’m just Doc’s lab lackey," Jack chuckled. "Doubt my opinion holds much weight.　 Fuck, it’s weird calling him Doc, or John, or Doctor Smith.　 This whole universe is a little skewed – but it’s probably what I needed.　 Keeps me on my toes, concentrating on my surroundings so I don’t slip up.　 Go figure, the Doctor really did deliver a cure for me."

"Change is good," Jake agreed before pulling Jack down for another kiss. "Felt the same when I went to your universe because of the whole Cybermen/Dalek mess, a little bit off but not wrong, just odd."

"Not my universe anymore," Jack pointed out with a small but sincere smile. "This is my home now.　 I just need to learn the ropes so I don’t make a complete ass of myself."

Jack thought, fleetingly, of Gwen and how he was abandoning her – but he wasn’t, not really.　 She had Rhys and the baby and a new lease on life – a life free of Jack Harkness and the trouble that followed him around. It was a win-win situation really.　 With only one Ianto-sized problem on his new horizons. But Jack wasn’t going to think about that tonight.　 Tonight he had a new friend to play with.　

"So, how long before you’re up for round two?" Jack smirked as he rolled over on top of Jake, kissing him again but this time with a good deal more heat. "And then you can tell me all about that ink and the reason why you’ve got the Torchwood crest permanently inked on your chest."

Sandy eyebrows rose in surprise before Jake burst out laughing. "It’s usually me asking that question, and to answer it, not long at all, Jack, not long at all. We all have one, Ross, Tom, Ianto and I, got ‘em when we were bumped up to alpha team."

"Does that make you all alpha males?" Jack joked, rubbing against Jake lightly. " Sooo… where do the rest of the team have theirs?　 Same spot?" he continued as nonchalantly as he could.

Jake shook his head, his hand curving around Jack’s thigh so that he could flick his fingertips over the older man’s balls. "We don’t tell, only people who know are those who’ve seen them."

"Fair enough, not like I really wanted to know anyway," Jack murmured and then he proceeded to make Jake forget all about his little slip up and the question he shouldn’t have asked.

~*~*~

The Torchwood locker room was silent as a tall, lean figure walked inside it, still wearing the clothes he’d had on the night before. No matter how late he had been out, no matter how little sleep he’d had and for what cause, Ianto Jones was always the first of his teammates to arrive at work, to gauge the readiness both of the others and of himself. For all of his outward exuberance and good nature, he took his job and the safety of those around him very seriously.

Stripping down, he was in the act of slapping his liquid body armor patch on, the shiny silvery complex polymer turning transparent and sliding outward to cover him from neck to feet, when Ross pushed open the door and came in, still yawning.

"Still no luck with Lisa?" Ianto chuckled, to which the other young man replied by flipping him off. "She’ll fall eventually; she likes you; you’re the sweet one, remember?"

"Sod off," Ross grumbled. "I really, really hate that label, you know."

"Except when it gets you laid," Tom pointed out as he joined them.

"There’s one," Ianto commented, pulling his t-shirt over his body armor. "And how is the lovely Dr. Jones, no relation?"

Tom’s cheery smile turned sultry, and he stretched his arms over his head, yawning mightily. "Wonderful as always."

"And it’s two," Ross snorted. "As if you didn’t get any last night, Ianto."

"Never said I didn’t," the other man smirked.

The door opened again, and the three of them turned and looked in its direction, their jaws all dropping as their last teammate entered.

"Holy Mary, mother of God," Tom whistled.

Ross shook his head as he pulled out his wallet. "Simmonds wins the pot. I’m so far in the hole, I’m never going to get out of it."

"Just keep working on Lisa," Ianto advised. "And you, are you going to be able to move today?"

"Oh yeah," Jake crooned, still high on the rush of endorphins. "I’m golden." He started to strip down, revealing more bruises and love bites, and the other men groaned.

"You’re going to be good for shite until you get it out of your system, so, go ahead, who was he – and what’s his number?" Ianto chuckled.

"Not saying," Jake smirked.

Ross applauded at that. "Thank God, we don’t need two of you mooning around like that."

"Exactly," Tom laughed, "we’d have to carry them everywhere we went."

"Sod off, the both of you," Ianto grumbled without heat though he looked at Jake again, plotting out how to get the information he wanted from the other man. "We need to be in the control room in fifteen; we’re the alert team today. Nothing going on last I checked, but..."

"Anything can happen," the others chorused, Jake beginning to look more alert after he took a hurried shower and pulled on his body armor and uniform.

"All right then," Ianto nodded as they headed out the door, "let’s see what the universe throws at us today."


	4. Chapter 4

It took several weeks of prying for information and several illicit bribes to view the security tapes of the building on the nights before the mornings Jake showed up looking like a refuge from an all-night sex show before Ianto discovered the identity of his partner in crime. He tapped his thumb against his front teeth as he watched Jake get yanked into Jack Harkness’ room for the third time, pondering his options. Anyone else and it would be easy to talk to Jake and the other person about cooling it down somewhat, at least when Jake was on duty, but this situation was different.

Harkness practically bolted any time he was in the vicinity, and even if Ianto could understand his reasons, it was annoying and a bit frustrating. "All right then, no point in trying to beard the lion in his den or in the cafeteria; the first is too much his ground, the second too open, too many escape routes. The lab it is then." A quick call to Doc got him out of the space to investigate a supposed problem with one of his improvements to the team’s new SUV and Ianto his quarry where he wanted him.

On the way down to Doc’s lab, he mulled over ways of handling the situation. He decided that direct was the best, and, after the lab door swooshed open, he stepped inside the large, cluttered room, spotting the person he was looking for leaning over a table, working on a piece of equipment.

The thought flitted across Ianto’s mind that Harkness had a damn nice ass before he focused on the task at hand again, and he crossed his arms over his chest as he stopped about ten paces away from the other man.

"I need you to stop fucking Jake Simmonds stupid every other night."

Jack’s posture went from loose-limbed and relaxed to tense and ramrod straight before Ianto got the first syllable out. He did not, however, turn around.　 There was no way in hell that Jack could look at this alternate version of his Ianto and still maintain his composure. God, what the hell was Jones doing here?

"Last time I checked, Simmonds was a consenting adult, and it’s not like I’m the one paying visits to him," Jack replied with over exaggerated care.　 "However, if you think it’s interfering with his duties, I suggest you take it up with him or his boss.　 Last time I checked that was Rose Tyler-Smith, not Jack Harkness. Now if that’s all, _Jones_ , I’m kind of busy right now," he finished, trying to refocus his attention to the sonic laser he was using to weld two slender pieces of polymer alloy together in order to form a crèche for some delicate wiring.

"I can see that, and I’m taking it up with the person who can do something about it," Ianto countered, closing the distance between himself and Jack’s back. "I don’t care who anyone fucks; my issue is that every morning after he’s been with you, he’s strung out for half the day. Sounds like he’s been having a hell of a lot of fun but it’s affecting his work. I’m going to have the same talk with him, but I figured I’d do you the courtesy of knowing why he isn’t going to be as available over the next few days."

"Didn’t know team lead translated to den mother," Jack replied lazily, his voice dropping a few degrees.　 "But thanks for telling me my calendar’s been lightened a bit.　 Maybe I’ll take up crocheting in between fuck sessions."

"Being team lead translates into doing whatever it takes to keep them alive," Ianto said pointedly. "And make yourself a dick cozy; it might keep you warm on the off nights."

Jack barked out a laugh. "I doubt I’ll have any problems keeping my dick warm," he commented.　 "Besides Jake there’s a whole new world out there that I haven’t even begun to explore, so I’m pretty sure I can find help keeping warm when Jake’s kowtowing to you."

"Kowtowing? Jake? That’s rich," Ianto chuckled. "Don’t bother trying Tom; his fiancée might come after you, and Ross is so straight he squeaks, but then, as you said, there’s a whole world out there just waiting to have their IQ lowered."

"What’s the matter, Jones, feeling neglected because I was fucking the other you but went for your friend here?" Jack retorted, dropping the sonic laser and rounding on Jones, ignoring the pain his words made him feel as easily as he ignored the way his chest constricted at the sight of that beloved face.　 But it wasn’t _his_ Ianto.　 That was the whole point. This wasn’t his quietly resourceful, deviously kinky and deceptively mild-mannered, coffee-addicted lover; this was someone with the same face, same voice, same smell even, but not the same personality.　

And suddenly Jack was enraged at the whole fucking universe for snuffing out that uniquely perfect man that he loved far too much, far too late. "Now if you’ve done trying to get under my skin, why don’t you leave?　 I don’t have time to deal with little boys throwing temper tantrums because they’ve lost their favorite toys," he informed the other man softly, trying to keep his rage under control until Jones was gone and he could leave as well and find something to kill.

"Wouldn’t you say that was my situation?" Ianto responded mildly, knowing he was goading the other man and realizing that was partly what he had come here for. "And you can finally look at me, very impressive. I was thinking you were too pissed at him and afraid you might snap if you got us mixed up."

Jack’s icy calm turned into molten rage at Jones’ words, and before he’d even thought it through, he’d hauled back and thrown everything he had into connecting his fist to the bastard’s jaw.　 "You son of a bitch.　 I _loved_ him, and you are nothing more than a pale shadow of the man he was.　 Don’t you _dare_ compare yourself to him.　 You know _nothing_!"

Ianto reached up, wiping the back of his hand across the corner of his mouth and smearing the blood from his split lip across his chin. "I know that you’re bloody well pissed at him for leaving you. Can’t take it out on him, so c’mon, give me a go; I’m betting I’ll put up more of a fight."

"You fucking bastard!" Jack roared, losing all semblance of control as he threw himself at Jones, fists slamming into the other man’s solar plexus and stomach. He continued to crowd Jones back, raining blow after blow on the man who wore his lover’s face, his fury only increasing as it didn’t seem to have any effect on Jones at all.　

"Bastard! He didn’t leave me; I killed him.　 I fucking killed him, you son of a bitch, so don’t you dare tell me I’m pissed at him for leaving me. You know nothing!" Jack raged, not hearing the horrified feminine gasp coming from the doorway or the male voice promising dire retribution if Jones’ antics damaged his lab.

"You didn’t kill him," Ianto got out as he moved defensively, his body armor absorbing those blows he couldn’t dodge. "The aliens did. Eventually you’re going to have to realize it."

He glanced away to give Doc a thumbs up. "Works perfectly – oof." The last was added when Jack took advantage of his distraction and punched him in the face again.

"I really need to work on that head covering," Doc mused to himself.

Rose thumped Doc in the stomach hard. "He’s going to kill Ianto, you realize that, don’t you?" she demanded worriedly. "And you’re thinking about head coverings? _Men_!"

Turning on her heel, Rose took off down the hall in a dead sprint, slamming into the armory and making for the locker at the back of the room. Grabbing a modified Decadron Crucible, Rose ran back to the lab, sliding to a stop next to her husband.　 "Just in case," she muttered as she watched the circling men carefully, looking for any sign that she would have to use the temporary containment device.

"He’s dead; it’s my fault; what do you know about it?" Jack snarled, ignoring Rose and Doc, his entire being focused on the smart-assed son of a bitch in front of him. "What do you know about losing the first person you’ve loved unreservedly in centuries!"

"Nothing," Ianto admitted, ducking another blow. "But I think I’m right in saying he’d be fucking pissed at you for acting like this."

"If I could only make the polymer selectively gas permeable," Doc muttered, wandering off to his workbench to start scrawling equations on his datapad.

"Shut up.　 _Shut up_!" Jack screamed, raining down a few more blows before he just stopped, dropping to his knees like a marionette whose strings had been cut as soul shattering sobs wracked his whole body. Jack could no longer hold onto his self-hatred and rage thanks to the bastard’s interference; he’d been stripped of the frozen shell he’d been using to protect himself from the excruciating pain of all the losses he’d suffered in such quick succession - Owen, Tosh, Gray, Steven, his daughter, for though Alice was still alive he was dead to her; and most devastatingly, his Ianto. Instead all he could do was sob as each loss stabbed him anew.

Rose started to step forward, and even Doc looked up at that before Ianto waved them off, crouching down beside the larger man, one hand rubbing over his back as he waited out the storm, saying nothing until the heaving of Jack’s back slowed. "It’s not your fault; it’s not his fault; it’s life and it’s bollocks at times, but it’s what we have, so you have to appreciate what you’ve been given. There was more to him than the ending; that’s what you hold on to."

Jack reached into his back pocket and fished out a handkerchief, wiping the moisture from his face.　 "Yeah, well, you’re a little prick," he muttered, sounding like he’d swallowed shards of glass. "You have that in common with him, if nothing else; he could never leave well enough alone either.　 He’d keep right on digging even though I didn’t want him to. Wouldn’t stop until he’d gotten it out of me.　 Hurt like a son of a bitch then, hurts like a son of bitch now.

"Fuck," Jack scrubbed a shaking hand through his hair, wincing as skin that had been rubbed raw on Jones’ clothing caught and pulled. "It was easier accepting I’d murdered my grandson – and yes, I did.　 I had no choice. It was the only way to stop the 456. I lost my lover, my daughter and my grandson – basically everything important in my life – in the space of twenty-four hours.　 It really wasn’t a good day for me," Jack chuckled bleakly.

"Understandable," Ianto nodded, catching Jack’s hand and examining the abraded skin then snatching the handkerchief and dabbing at the torn and bloody flesh, cleaning it as much as possible. "You did what you had to do; someone has to make those decisions, and if it didn’t bother you, you wouldn’t be human – oh, and just to clarify things, the prick? Not little at all."

"Forgive me if I’m not all that eager to find out," Jack murmured quietly.　 "But… thanks.　 I think I needed that."

"Didn’t imagine you would be, but you’re welcome. Think you can stand on your own? I believe Rose is going to be on you the minute you do."

"Fuck," Jack moaned. "I adore her but she’s taking this whole mothering thing way too far." He paused a moment, his mind whirring as he eyed Rose carefully, trying to think of a way out of this and then asked loudly.　 "Rose, are you pregnant?"

"Wot?" she exclaimed, looking shocked, then yelping when Doc raced to her side, tutting and fussing over her.

"Nice distraction," Ianto murmured as they both got to his feet. "Take care, Harkness; I’m out of here while they’re going on." With that the younger man was gone, slipping from the lab and vanishing down the maze of corridors.

"I’m the ultimate survivor," Jack murmured despairingly as he watched Jones disappear down the corridors.　 "I miss you, Ianto. So damned much," he murmured as he slipped out of the lab himself, heading in the opposite direction of Jones.　 Stopping off at Rose’s office, Jack popped his head in to give Donna a watery smile.　 They were kindred spirits, he and this Donna – or they would have been if he were still the Jack Harkness that Rose first met.

"Hey, Red, be prepared to have Doc around a lot more and being insanely bothersome.　 Rose was getting ready to pounce on me, so I turned the tables – asked her if she was in the family way," he chuckled.　 "Doc’s gonna be a bit more manic than normal for a while."

Donna burst into laughter. "You’re a piece of work, Jack Harkness.　 I _like_ you, dammit! And don’t worry about Doc; I can handle him just fine."

"Should never have doubted it," Jack murmured, perching on the edge of her desk. "Listen, I’m gonna take off for a few days, so don’t send out the National Guard or anything to look for me.　 I need to get away for a bit, and I think that maybe it’s time I go make peace with my past.　 I’m going home – to Cardiff, that is. It’s time to close that chapter of my life for good. Besides, I’d like to look in on this universe’s versions of Gwen, Tosh and Owen – make sure they’re okay."

Donna got up from her desk and came around to stand in the V of Jack’s legs, hugging him hard.　 "Take one of the SUVs," she said, finally pulling back, her eyes watery but her voice strong. "And don’t worry about a thing; I’ll run interference if people start to get nosey."

"If you weren’t head over heels for that Padawan guy…" Jack teased.

"Patinjali, you git," Donna laughed. "Rupesh Patinjali. Now get out of here.　 And don’t forget to disable the GPS – the code is Blaidd Drwg."

"Bad Wolf? Are you kidding me?" Jack chuckled as he pressed a kiss to Donna’s cheek and playfully swatted her ass. "These people have _sick_ senses of humor, I tell ya!" he muttered as he headed out the door, making for the garage and pulling out his cell as he did to make a quick call to Jake’s apartment in order to leave a message on his machine.

"Jake, it’s Jack.　 Listen, I’m heading out of town for a little while.　 I’ll call you when I get back, okay?　 Try not to blow up any more SUVs and… stay safe.　 Talk to you when I get back."


	5. Chapter 5

"Christ, you’re still black and blue, and it’s been a week," Tom sighed, catching Ianto by the jaw to study his face. "You sure you don’t want us to jump him for you?"

"Oi, I’ll be the one doing that, thank you," Jake said sternly as he laced up his boots.

"Totally different ways, Simmonds," Tom corrected, poking at Ianto’s face and making him wince.

"I told you, I goaded him into it, and I’m _fine_ , or I would be if you stopped jabbing at me!"

"Anyone know where Jake’s boytoy has gone?" Ross questioned. "We’ve got Rift duty coming up; at this rate poor Jakey won’t get any before we’re gone."

At Jake’s sly smile, the other three men started to laugh, knowing him all too well.

"Wot? It’s sex. Mind you, he’s bloody good at it, but I’m not going to throw myself in a nunnery if he’s not around."

Ianto mimed gagging. "Are you _trying_ to make me ill? The thought of you in a habit..."

"Oh, shut your hole," Jake laughed, flipping Ianto off. "You’re just jealous because I’m prettier than you and could pull it off."

"Okay, now I’m going to heave," Ross groaned as he finished wiping the oil off his sidearm and began to reassemble it with efficient fingers. "Bloody hell, I can’t even get one girl into bed, and here you are tarting about when you’ve got your very own sex machine but a few floors away. Lucky sod."

"Don’t worry, Ross," Tom said, pulling the shorter man into a headlock that masqueraded as a hug, "we still love you."

"Come on, you lot," Ianto laughed, "we’re on duty in five, no time for an orgy."

"Oh piss off," Ross muttered to no one in particular. "I’m suffering here – we’re talking Smurf-colored balls!"

"Oh gross," Jake yelled. "Now I’m going to have to scour my brain with a Brillo pad to get rid of that image! No, wait, Jack – naked.　 Jack naked and doing that thing he does with his..." Jake began evilly, ducking out the door as Ross lunged for him and literally running into Rose.

"Bollocks! Rose, I’m sorry!" he yelped, catching her before she could do more than wobble a bit. "I didn’t… hurt anything, did I?"

"I’m not pregnant!" she yelled, startling all of the men, who fell back from her quickly as she continued to rant.

"Right, Rose," Ianto said quickly as the others hid behind him, "not pregnant. We’ve got it, never mention it again, right, lads?"

"Got it!" the other three chimed in unison.

That only slightly mollified Rose, who still glared daggers at them. "When I get my hands on that Jack Harkness – well, it’s a bloody good thing his bits grow back!" she growled to herself as she stalked off. "Because I’m going to cut them off for even suggesting that I might be…" Her muttering finally faded as she rounded the corner.

Ross waited a few long moments and then turned to his teammates and very quietly asked. "Are we sure she’s not preggers? Mood swings from hell lately!"

"She isn’t," Tom announced. "She checked, and I happened to... glance at the report."

"Poor Harkness," Ianto said under his breath. "You better find him when he gets back and warn him, Jake, or you’ll be in for a really boring time of it."

Jake looked at Ianto strangely.　 "He beats the crap out of you, and you start worrying about his bits?" he asked slowly. "I mean, when I got nearly vivisected by that alien gizmo, you got me drunk and laughed when I ended up heaving in your loo.　 And we were sleeping together at the time." He wasn’t jealous about Ianto’s sudden interest in Jack, well, not exactly, but Jake was puzzled by the sudden shift in Ianto’s opinions when he’d been dead set against getting too close to him up until now.

"Maybe that’s why she’s so pissy," Ross muttered to himself, not really paying attention to Jake and Ianto. "Maybe she wants to be?"

"I wouldn’t ask her that," Tom cautioned as they all trooped toward the command center, "or you won’t have to worry about the color of your balls."

"Not worried about his bits," Ianto shrugged as he told Jake. "I just don’t want you whinging because you aren’t getting any from him _or_ me is all."

"You could always join in…" Jake began, his libido getting ahead of his brain. "Um, sorry, that was uncalled for," he murmured when he caught himself up. "I spoke without thinking.　 I mean I know we’ve teased each other about this sort of thing in the past, but this time it’s different, yeah?"

Ianto eyed the shorter man as if he’d run mad and finally shook his head. "Good thing it was me you suggested that to and not him."

"My cock got ahead of my brain," Jake admitted, glad that Ross and Tom were far enough ahead that they couldn’t hear the conversation. "It’s just that… I kind of miss you, man. And if you tell anyone I said that, I _will_ kill you."

"You could try," Ianto chuckled before swinging his arm around Jake’s shoulders. "And you should have said something. It’s not like it’s a hardship, you know."

"I could succeed, too.　 Jack n’ I have been doing more than just fucking.　 He’s an all right guy.　 Knew my Mickey, he did – they traveled together with the Doctor, and they got to be mates after Mickey went back to his universe　 He’s a bit of all right, Ianto, honestly. I think you’d actually like him too if you didn’t have all the crap hanging over your heads."

Tom looked back at them, having caught the tail end of that comment, "Are we getting the return of Yenta Jake again?"

"Well, he did all right with you and the lovely Dr. Jones," Ross pointed out.

"I let him try to beat the shite out of me; how much more friendly can you get?" Ianto snorted.

"If that’s your idea of courtship, Ianto, no wonder you’re permanently single!" Jake snorted, elbowing his team lead in the gut and ducking behind Tom with a snigger.

"And I did all right with you and Lisa too; you just don’t see any results yet because she’s a nice girl.　 It’s not like with guys, you moron; you can’t just whip out your dick to impress them.　 Women take work, especially if they’re worth it," Jake informed Ross with a haughty sniff.

"Oh, for fuck sake, what is it with you and your cock, Simmonds? I’ve seen it; it’s not that impressive," Ross groaned.

"It’s not bad!" Jake replied indignantly and then grinned slyly. "But then seeing as how I tend to catch, not pitch, I don’t need to be more than average, thanks all the same."

"And how the hell do you know about what women really want, mate? It’s not like your tackle’s ever been near their net, so to speak," Tom snickered. "I’d say Ross would be better off listening to our fearless leader regarding the fairer sex than you."

"Am I wrong?" Jake asked indignantly, shooting a look over his shoulder at Ianto.　 "Tell me I’m wrong! And for your information, Thomas, it’s because I’m not a muff diver that they _do_ tell me about all this shite. I’m ‘non-threatening’; you know, just one of the girls so to speak. So bite me, arse!" Jake finished with a huff, which sent Ross into paroxysms of amused laughter.

"Such a fucking queen!" he guffawed as they walked into the command center. "He’s practically rainbow colored!"

"Needs another tiara," Tom snickered, ducking the swing Jake aimed at him. "And you bought the first one!"

"Not getting into this again," Ianto announced to the world at large.

"Chicken shite," Jake groused and then straightened up as he caught Rose glaring at the four of them.　 "Bugger, she’s still in a strop," he muttered quietly, warning the other three. "Better watch yourselves."

Ross immediately straightened and coughed, hiding his grimace.　 Sometimes, he thought, just sometimes he wondered if he should try batting for the home team – a lot less mood swings to deal with.　 But the positives of women always won out over the negatives.　 But then again... he thought as Rose cleared her throat impatiently.

"If we’re done, children?" she asked pointedly, knowing full well the team was the same age as she was. "We have a potential situation which Doc, Jack and I all agree needs closer monitoring…"

"Jack’s back?" Jake piped up with a grin, only to shrink back under Rose’s glare.

"No, he’s hiding somewhere, and Donna won’t tell me where, the bloody coward! It’s not like he won’t recover or anything," she grumbled. "Doc called him to discuss that toy they’re building and got his opinion while he had Jack on the line.　 And that one’s sleeping in the spare room for aiding and abetting the perpetrator of that… _rumor_!"

"The situation?" Ianto cut in, hoping to forestall another rant.

"There have been small amounts of strange meat showing up in a few local butchers’ shops and independent markets. Strange in that we’ve had it analyzed and have no clue what animal it came from – it has no steroids, none of the standard traces of Earth-based food. It’s just… meat.　 Jack ran into something eerily similar in his own universe, so when Doc mentioned the strange meat, it twigged, and he relayed all the info he could, based on his own experiences. Once I read the report, I had to concur that this had all the earmarks of what his Torchwood dealt with. And this is why we’re now on alert and investigating. Which is where you lot come in. You’re going shopping for groceries.　 Have fun, lads!" Rose grinned menacingly. "But you may want to not eat at any of the local kebab stands for a while, although it may be a good idea to pick up samples there too, just to see how far this alien meat has infiltrated our food chain."

"Shopping?" Ianto asked faintly before sighing. "Looks like we might find you another tiara after all, Jake."

"But I order take away all the time!" Jake almost wailed. "I don’t know how to shop, let alone cook.　 Jack does the cooking when we eat in!"

"How positively domestic," Ross sniggered, laughing harder when Jake growled and flipped him off.

"Have fun, boys, civvies over armor and only one concealed weapon," Rose snickered. "Pick me up some chips on your way back in.　 They’d better be hot or I’ll have your balls instead."

Every male in the command center cringed, and Alpha team hurried out in search of alien meat.

~*~*~

"So what are we supposed to look for?" Tom asked, "alien cows?"

"No clue." Ianto shrugged as they trooped back in the direction they’d just come, grumbling as they changed back into the clothes they’d just doffed. "Oh, forgot to mention, if Doc asks you to try out a hood for these things, do not do it. He nearly suffocated Gregory yesterday."

"Bloody hell," Ross groaned.　 "When are we due in Cardiff again?　 Can we offer to go early and run the hell away?" he asked plaintively, sending the rest of the team into fits of laughter.

"Oh sure, yuck it up, you lot.　 He _likes_ asking me to help.　 Every bloody time."

"That’s because you can’t tell him no," Ianto pointed out, sending Jake and Tom into fresh bouts of laughter.

"He’s a bloody force of nature!" Ross defended.　 "I’d like to see you actually tell him no when he gets it in his head that you’re the perfect person to assist him.　 I don’t know how Rose does it!"

Tom clapped Ross on the shoulder. "It’s because she’s more of a man than you," he said seriously before ducking out of the way when Ross rounded on him.

"Bastards, the lot of you.　 C’mon, we’d best get this shopping excursion over before all the chip shops close and Rose charges us with High Treason or summing." Oddly enough the thought of cranky Rose without her chips was actually even more terrifying than being voluntold to assist Doc with one of his crazy new toys, Ross thought with a shudder.

The team headed down to the motor pool and into an unmarked SUV, heading out into the London afternoon in search of their target. They returned several hours later, laden with bags full of meat and a wax twist of freshly cooked chips for Rose.

"Nobody mention cravings," Ianto warned as they carried their booty back to the lab via her office.

"Ooooh chips!" Doc grinned as he rounded the corner.　 "Are those for my darling wife?　 I’ll take them. And never say never where cravings are concerned. I’ve decided I want to be a father, experience the miracle of life and all that, so it’s only a matter of time now," he gleefully informed the Wild Boys.　 "You’re all going to be honorary uncles – or aunties as the case may be.　 Ross, I need your help with a thing in my lab later if you have time, there’s a good man!" And with that Doc grabbed the chips out of Ianto’s hand and set off to Rose’s office, whistling a jaunty tune.

"Okay, which of you are going to do me a mercy and put a bullet in my leg so I end up in hospital before he can kill me?" Ross whimpered.

"You know, if he wasn’t happily married, I’d wonder if he didn’t have a crush on you," Tom snickered.

"Bite your tongue, you twat!" Ross snarled, throwing himself at his friend and beating him about the head in frustration.

Jake, who had a sack of the so-called meat in each hand, leaned against Ianto as he lost all semblance of balance from laughing too hard.

"You could try eating some of this meat," Ianto offered, trying to keep Jake upright and not end up on the floor himself while Tom almost slammed into them, trying to avoid Ross’s blows. "Even if it’s not the alien stuff, it might make you ill."

"I hate you.　 I hate you all," Ross growled, picking up his own sack and stalking down the hall to the lab, head in the air and back ramrod straight.

"Oh, don’t be like that, baby; you know we love you.　 In fact, if you’re really so desperate for relief, Ianto and I may be persuaded to actually _show_ you!" Jake crowed after him, his laughter doubling as Ross made a rude hand gesture over his shoulder without stopping.

"He’s going to find a way to get back at us; you do realize that, don’t you?" Tom asked when they finally recovered enough to start after him.

"If he didn’t, we’d be disappointed."

"You ever think that this is Doc’s way of getting back at Ross for that time he hit on Rose at the Christmas party last year?" Jake wondered with a grin.

"No bet at all," Ianto laughed. "He just hasn’t twigged to it."

"Well, he was completely soused at the time. I was afraid he’d come down with alcohol poisoning," Tom laughed. "As it was, he was puking his guts out for days after the fact. And all because that tart he fancied himself in love with turned out to be an alien sex vampire or something."

"That was one time he should have been glad to have blue balls," Jake put in.

"And to think that people accuse you of being led around by your dick and being attracted to anything that had one. At least you never made out with a glowing blue half fish woman who made you think she was a busty blonde," Tom sniggered.

"C’mon, Tommy, you know Jake doesn’t have anything to do with fish of any kind," Ianto said before gently pushing the other two into the lab where Ross waited, his expression saying he was plainly plotting something.

Tom burst into gales of laughter. "Well, he does like ‘eel’, you have to admit," he fired back.

"The only fish I touch is the tuna I feed my nan’s pussy," Jake retorted with a sinister chuckle as all three man began to convulse in disgust.

"You know what, after that, I think I _am_ going to go offer to help Doc. Dying can’t be any worse than listening to you lot !" Ross exclaimed.

"Oh, Ross, you know you can’t we can’t hide our secret love anymore," Jake gushed melodramatically as he threw himself into Ross’ arms, simpering and fluttering his eyelashes.

"Well, if you don’t want the eternal stud muffin, I’ll be more than happy to take him off your hands," Donna said from the doorway, her eyes dancing with amusement at the antics of her ‘boys’. "He keeps offering himself to me, but I’ve resisted for Rupesh’s sake.　 However, Ru and I had an interesting conversation last night about threesomes…" she trailed off with a satisfied smirk as all four men made sour milk faces.

"C’mon, you lot, let the techies do their work; Rose wants to see you in her office. She wants you in Cardiff early."

Ross pushed Jake away, cuffing him on the back of the head even as he breathed a sigh of relief at dodging the proverbial bullet of helping Doc out in his lab.

"Any idea why?" Ianto asked, managing to put himself between his teammates who seemed determined to engage in a slap fight, one he joined in the moment he caught a glancing blow on his ear.

"Apparently most of the teams come down with something after ordering a Massive Meat Pizza from a local pizzeria which just happens to get their meat from the supplier we’re investigating for alien meat," Donna sighed. "Bloody idiots.　Siobahn called it in this morning. She was off duty last night, and her partner had come up for the night, so she’s still all right, luckily, and has decided to give vegetarianism a go again for some reason," the redhead sniggered. "Anyhow, Dr. Jones and her team are on their way up there right now to assess and evac to a Torchwood affiliate hospital if need be."

"So you mean there’s no active team up there?" Ianto asked, his brow furrowing at the same time the others went alert.

"We have someone up there taking care of the fieldwork while Siobahn monitors the Rift and her teammates; if anything urgent comes up or requires more than one person to handle it, you’ll be flown up, but for now we’d rather keep you here until Dr. Jones and her team do a full biological and toxicological and give the Hub building a green light for re-entry," Donna replied rather cagily as she led them into the express elevator to the administrative offices.

"It’s bad meat; they’ve cordoned off the whole building for that?" Ross asked, and Tom sighed.

"And if the reason they’re sick is because the meat’s infected with parasites or larvae or something of that sort?"

"You mean like that movie where that creature planted eggs in people’s stomachs and then they hatched by exploding out of their chests?" Jake asked.

"Oi! There’s a lady present; watch what you talk about – dis-gus-ting!" Donna shrieked.

"Are my eardrums bleeding?" Ianto asked as they entered Rose’s office to find her eating her chips and reading a report.

"Why would your ears be bleeding?" Rose asked, bringing a ketchup-saturated chip up to her mouth absently. "And what did you do to Doc, Ross, to make him want to turn you into his permanent guinea pig for experiments?　 He actually suggested that I make it part of your performance plan next review period."

"Jake made Donna shriek," Ianto explained as Ross shrank in on himself, shaking his head in abject terror. "And I think you just broke Ross, Rose; that wasn’t very nice."

"I was being serious.　 He just left, said he was tired of having to track Ross down all the time and that I should just make it part of his job spec.　 I, of course, informed him that it was a waste of a field agent and that he really should find someone else to help him, and he walked out sulking and muttering about hands needing to stay with their owners and not with other people’s posteriors or something to that effect," Rose replied, knowing full well the reason why Doc wanted to have Ross under his thumb.　 It had been a pleasant reminder that her husband was well and truly human, because as far as Rose knew Time Lords didn’t get jealous.

"Glad to hear it because I just got him trained, and it would be a pain in the arse to go through it again," Ianto chuckled. "So, I hear Delta ate something bad, and we’re moving up early."

"The bloody scanner didn’t trip, nor did the fools bother to run a bioscan on their pizza despite the fact that I specifically warned them about the possibility of alien meat floating about.　 Why do you think I’m having chips for dinner – at least I know where they came from!" Rose groused. "It’s also why the canteen is serving fish and chips and veg curry today."

"Either way, they’ve eaten what is most definitely some form of alien flesh – preliminary lab results from the samples you brought in, it didn’t take long to confirm that whatever creature it is, it’s not from around here. The team’s going to one of our quarantine areas for observation as soon as Martha okays it; Siobahn’s going with, obviously. Luckily, we’ve got a man in Cardiff right now with experience enough to handle anything short of a full scale invasion by himself. So while you’ll need to go up earlier than planned, you don’t need to go up right this instant. Martha figures tomorrow will be soon enough; she should have completed the decontamination process by then. Of course, you’ll need to remain on standby just in case something requiring more than one person to handle crops up. He may be damned good at what he does, but he has yet to figure out how to clone himself – thank God – so he can’t be everywhere at once, yeah?"

Ianto’s eyes narrowed slightly at the last comment, but he kept his mouth shut, listening and nodding, the others growing serious as well. "So we’ll pack up and be ready to roll when we get the green light."

"Right then," Donna took that moment to bustle into the office and place a large stack of papers requiring signature in front of Rose.　 "Local hospitals have been warned; we’ve people on the way to the shops with the tainted meat in order to close them down for Mad Cow – BBC is issuing a statement for a meat recall on all their stations and that anyone who bought meat from the shops with our alien mutton, or whatever, are being told to report to our alerted hospitals.　

"There are Torchwood doctors at each of the hospitals, each with a supply of Retcon just in case things start to look dicey. After all, it’s one thing to know about aliens, and it’s another thing to have eaten one. Isn’t that right, Ross?" Donna smirked before getting back to business.　 "You need to sign all of those where the colored tabs indicate, and you need to brief the President in an hour.　 A car’s waiting downstairs; John’s gone to fetch one of your power suits; and this lot has to be out of here in twenty minutes so you can get dressed and put some make up on.　 Any questions?"

Ross raised a hand and, at Rose’s impatient look, swallowed. "So this means I don’t have to help Doc, right?"

~*~*~

Jack sat behind the large chrome and glass desk that looked out through the floor to ceiling polymer coated glass windows, enjoying both the silence and the view. Cardiff Bay was to the left of the office and the Millennium Centre to the right, and both looked exactly as they had in his universe. It was not his Hub, for which he was grateful, but oddly enough it still felt the same, to be here in Cardiff, behind a desk, guarding the Rift.　 What was it Jake had told him that first night? A little bit off but not odd. Yeah, that pretty much described where Jack’s head was right now – a little bit off but not odd.

The scary thing was – he actually missed this. And he was oh so tempted to just take over here, but… he’d been given a new start, and he wasn’t going to make the same mistakes again.　 He’d gotten too full of himself here at the Hub with no one to answer to, far too cocksure and full of his own invulnerability.　 No, Jack wasn’t going down that road again.　 He’d wait until the replacement team got here, stay for a few days to lend a hand if necessary and then go home to London and back to the safety of Doc’s lab and contemplate the offer that Rose and John had put before him.

"Dibs on the top bunk!" The laughing shout echoed through the entrance area below as four forms dressed in black fatigues carried their gear inside.

"Christ, not with the way you smell after a veg curry," another groaned. "And that’s all we’re going to be eating until they get this meat thing resolved."

"Yeah, but there’s shite all we can do about it here; the distribution point’s in London."

Jack slid his feet from the top of the desk to the floor, the chair he’d been leaning back in returning to its proper ninety degree angle as he stood and stretched, a small chuckle escaping at the antics of the newcomers. It was impossible not to recognize Jake’s voice, which meant that Ianto’s ‘Wild Boys’ had finally arrived to take up the rest of Delta Team’s tour.

Feeling a small resurgence of his former mischievous ways, Jack sauntered over to the railing and, leaning on the railing to watch the reactions, called out, "You’re more than welcome to bunk with me, Jake, but seeing as how you’re on duty, and your team lead may have issue with that."

"If it’ll keep the rest of us from smelling him after that curry, you’re welcome to him," Ianto called up, surprise at Jack’s attitude evident in his tone.

"Please, take him," Tom begged, at which Jake nodded.

"Yes, take me – ow!" The last was added when Ross elbowed him in the ribs.

"Work first."

"A great man from my universe once said all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy," Jack chuckled.　 "But, er, Ross is it?　 Is right. Stow your gear and meet me up here in fifteen so I can brief you.

"Oh, the one who’s engaged to Dr. Martha Jones...? Milligan, correct? She left you a care package. Didn’t ask, don’t want to know.　 She also left a list of ‘safe’ restaurants after taking great care to inform me of the complete neglect the lot of you have for maintaining a healthy diet."

"Are you sure he can’t take me?" Jake muttered while the other men whooped at the mention of the safe list. "Seriously, I get shivery when he gets all large and in charge that way."

"I could send you home," Ianto threatened, knowing there would be no end to the complaining until Jake had gotten his rocks off.

"Just because you had a hot date you had to cancel out on doesn’t mean I should have to go without too," Jake groused.　 "Besides – he’s _hot_. C’mon, Ianto, don’t be a killjoy."

Jack came back to the railing and looked down at the still loitering team. "You now have twelve of your fifteen minutes left," he said mildly, consulting a silver stopwatch that was, along with his greatcoat, his most prized possession.

Good natured grumbling greeted that comment as the four men carried their gear beck toward the living quarters, Jake looking up at Jack and winking as they left. They were back with thirty seconds to spare, Tom grinning from ear to ear at something he’d found in the bunk he habitually used.

They climbed the stairs and arranged themselves around the desk Jack had been using, for the moment mostly attentively serious.

"Okay, so here’s what I know from my own experiences with a similar situation, and here’s what we’re going to do about it," Jack informed them before launching into a long and detailed story about his own encounter with a similar entity, a huge feeling of déjà vu washing over him as he did so.


	6. Chapter 6

"I said it earlier but it bears repeating – smoking hot!" Jake laughed and then groaned in almost orgasmic delight as he sank his teeth into the best fried chicken he’d had in… well, a week.

"Simmonds, if you say hot one more time in conjunction with Harkness, I’m going to shove _you_ through the Rift," Ross muttered. "Now knock it off – you’re ruining my lamb chops!"

"His head’s too big to fit through it," Tom mumbled around his own pork chop, lifting a finger when Jake perked up. "Not that head."

"So, you gonna tell us what Martha left you?" Jake asked after giving Tom the stink eye. "Are you gonna share it?"

"No, and definitely not," Tom said forcefully.

"Locked it in the safe," Ianto commented around his mouthful of salmon.

"I bet it was pervy pictures for him to wank to," Ross chimed in with a laugh.

"Gross," Jake muttered, nose wrinkling in disgust. "D’you mind, I’m eating here!"

"Oh, this from the one going off about Harkness’ junk every five minutes," Ross pointed out.

"Still not telling you lot what it was," Tom said mildly.

"Yeah, well, you’re just put out because you’re the only one on the team not getting any," Jake shot back wickedly. "Even Ianto’s pulling almost every night he goes out, but that’s because he gets to choose from everyone. Although it looks like I won’t be getting any until after the mission is over… thanks to my team lead warning my sex machine to lay off while I’m working," the young man finished, shooting his best mate a dirty look.

"You have down time in three days; use it well," Ianto countered, "but if you come in with your brain leaking out your ears, there won’t be any more until we get back to London."

"What brain?" Ross asked, ducking when Jake winged a chicken bone in his direction.

"Oi! No getting us tossed out of here!" Tom ordered, grabbing Ross’s arm before he could retaliate.

Ross snickered as he put the chicken bone on his plate but nevertheless settled down. "I have to say this for our little Jakey’s ‘sex machine’; he wore that chair well today. And he knows his stuff. I’m beginning to see what Rose and the Doc see in the bloke. I think maybe we hit the jackpot, pardon the pun, when the Doctor saw fit to send him to us."

"Told you he was more than a pretty face and a great body… and a huge… smile," Jake said with a leer. "Some of the stuff he’s told me about his Cardiff and his Rift – we’ve not only hit the jackpot with him, but this universe seems to have a proverbial horseshoe up its arse, Lumic aside, that is. Poor bastard hasn’t had an easy time of it, that I can tell you. And that’s even before his," Jake shot Ianto an uneasy sideways glance, "erm, lover, died."

Tom and Ianto nodded before the physician spoke up. "Okay, Jake, never say I haven’t done something nice for you. I’ll switch down nights with you; just keep the noise to a minimum."

"And if you leave suspicious puddles anywhere, I’m hauling your ass out of bed to clean it up – both your asses," Ianto added threateningly.

"Thomas, I _love_ you," Jake whooped, ignoring Ianto’s threat save for flipping him off. His chicken was suddenly the last thing he wanted, and he shoved the plate into the center of the table before fishing out his wallet and throwing down a couple pound notes to cover his share of the tab. "Have at, gents, I’ve got a captain to do… actually get done by, he’s a bit of a top, that one."

Pushing away from the table, Jake threw on his jacket and headed for the door, reaching for his cell as he did so while wondering aloud if they’d have enough time to make use of the office.

"I’d make sure you brought disinfectant wipes with you if you decide to use the office for your shift," Ross sighed, his face scrunched up in disgust. "I, for one, will be avoiding it until the cleaning staff come through."

"And I’ll dig out earplugs for all of us," Tom added. "Still, it’s better than three days of him whinging about it."

"Too bad we didn’t borrow that cascade device Rose had," Ianto mused, knowing from personal experience how loud Jake could get – not that he had minded at the time.

"God, anyone got an iPod with them so we can plug it into the system and crank the music?" Ross groaned. "I hate wearing earplugs when I’m sleeping. It makes me feel exposed because I can’t hear anything." And then there was the sad and sorry fact that he was the only one on the team not getting any, as Jake had taken great pleasure in pointing out just before he’d gone to get laid. The only thing worse than being frustrated because the bird you wanted to get horizontal with was taking her time deciding if she actually wanted you too was having to listen to someone else get lucky, even if it was your male friend getting lucky with a bloke. You still got to listen to sex sounds, and it still got you hot and bothered with only Rosie Palm and her five sisters to help you find relief. In other words it was going to be a bugger of a night all round.

~*~*~

Jack held a tumbler of scotch in his hand – a night cap this time, nothing more; thanks to Jake’s constant attention and promiscuous affections he had stopped needing the alcohol as a way to ensure relatively dreamless sleep. Looking out the office window at the glittering lights of Cardiff, Jack was lost in thought.

Upon sending the ‘lads’, as he too had come to call them, off to get something to eat, he’d called up Rose to brief her on their arrival. He’d had to endure a multitude of threats about what she planned on doing to his masculinity if he ever suggested she was pregnant again , but once she’d gotten it out of her system, they’d settled down to the business at hand with no problem - once Doc had finally stopped chuckling, that was…

And then, just as the call was winding down, Rose and John had hit him with their bombshell. They wanted Jack to take over operational control of the field teams, thereby turning the Torchwood leadership from a partnership into a triumvirate. Rose would still handle the admin and PR aspects, Doc the R&D and gadgets, but they both felt that with Jack’s rather copious experience with running Torchwood ops in his own universe, he’d be the best person for the job.

It was tempting. Moreover, it was what he loved doing. Helping John in the lab was fantastic and fun, but... whether he liked it or not, Jack knew he was a born leader. And he was good at it. "And I miss the excitement," he murmured to himself, taking a sip from his glass. The perimeter alarm sounded, and Jack glanced over to the wall of monitors, quickly zeroing in on the breached quadrant. Jake. And he was alone and grinning like a cat about to get some cream. "Guess Jones let up on his no sex while working policy," Jack mused, not quite sure how he felt about that idea but not willing to look a gift horse in the mouth, so to speak.

But that brought to mind another thing Jack would have to deal with sooner rather than later, preferably before his saying yes to Doc and Rose became public knowledge. Because Jack already knew he would say yes – he just needed a few days to wrap up his personal business - from his present as well as his past. There was no way around it now; he would have to have a ‘talk’ with Jake and establish some new rules for sleeping with his boss, and then Jack would have to sit down and really figure out just how he felt about Jones and whether or not he could work directly with the man or not.

But not right now. Right now the door to the office was being flung open to allow a playfully predatory Jake entrance. "Well hello, soldier," Jack leered, "so what can I do you over?"

~*~*~

By the time the three remaining members of Alpha team had returned to the Hub, it was suspiciously quiet, causing Tom to breathe a sigh of relief. "Sounds like round one’s over at least."

"We should have chipped in and got them a hotel room," Ross muttered as they headed back to the bunk room where at least he started to strip down for the night.

"Tom, if you want to kip off for a few hours, I can watch the monitor," Ianto offered. "I need to catch up on the reports from the last crew."

"I’m not going to turn down a few hours of shut-eye," the taller man allowed, pulling off his fatigue jacket and dropping to his bunk, not bothering to remove anything else as he’d be on duty soon enough.

"What about those earplugs?" Ross groused only to have the pillow from Jake’s bunk dropped on him.

"Use this instead," Ianto suggested with a smirk.

"But what if I suffocate?"

"Then you won’t have to worry about the noise, will you?" Reflexively checking his sidearm even as he ducked the pillow that Ross lobbed at him, Ianto headed out of the room and out to the monitoring station, where he opened up his laptop and immersed himself in the minutia recorded over the last month by Delta team. It was at least an hour before he was distracted by noises coming from the guest quarters, and when he recognized them for what they were, he let his head fall back against the tall back of the computer chair he was seated in.

"Christ almighty..." Jake’s voice was easy enough to distinguish, but after a time, he realized it was the other one that he was listening to, the other one that was making the fit of his trousers tighter. "Bugger," he hissed, only to look toward the door at the sound of a snicker, relaxing when he saw that it was Tom standing there.

"That sounds like what they’re up to, all right. Go to bed, Ianto, I’ve got it now. Anything interesting going on?"

 _Other than that?_ The words almost slipped out, but Ianto held them back by force of will. "The Rift’s been quiet for the most part, only a few spikes and nothing they could find from any of them. Let me know if anything pops up."

"Other than Jakey and his sex machine? Will do," Tom chuckled, setting his mug of coffee on the desk and sinking down into the seat Ianto had vacated. "Go on, I can handle this," he said, shooing Ianto out of the room, waiting until the other man was gone before settling back to do his own reading.

~*~*~

Jack slid into his trousers as quietly as possible, only bothering to ensure his zipper was done up, and made his way to the bedroom door. Jake was asleep – well, passed out – on the bed with a silly grin still plastered on his face. Okay, so maybe Jones had a point, he thought with a dry chuckle as he slipped silently out of the room. Being back here, at the Hub, had his old habits coming to the surface, and he wanted to check on the Rift again just to make sure.

The readings from this Rift were still too new to him to be able to extrapolate correctly, but the way it had been surging lately had him sitting up and paying attention. Oh, it was nothing noticeable, not the kind of spike that would have Rose scrambling a field team, but it was constant enough that Jack suspected something was coming through – something small enough to slide in almost undetected, and with the other end of the Rift being unfixed, that could mean anything from animal and plant life to tech to an alien life form; there was no way to determine what came through. And that alone was enough to make Jack twitchy at the best of times, so he had no problem in giving in to old habits and checking things out – just to make sure.

"What I wouldn’t give for Tosh and her whiz kid ways right now," Jack murmured as he headed down the stairs to the subterranean office that served as not only the team lead’s office but as the board room and also housed the Rift monitoring equipment. "Maybe I should think about recruiting… no." Jones may have still managed to get himself into Torchwood, and Owen too as a consulting physician, but if Jack could avoid recruiting the rest of his old team to Torchwood, he would. "Not gonna repeat the same mistakes, Jack, this is a fresh start, remember?"

Tom looked up as he entered the room, momentary surprise flitting over his face as he took in Jack’s state of undress. "Something you need, sir?" His dark brows furrowed together as he realized how that might have sounded, especially in light of what he’d been listening to for most of the night.

Jack shook his head. "Nah, old habits and not being able to die and all that," he told the Wild Boys’ medical officer. "Sit down, Tom; I just want to check the Rift readings. They’re a little more erratic than I like, even with my limited knowledge of this version of the Rift."

"How so?" Tom asked, instantly concerned. "Have you told Rose or Doc?"

"Not yet," Jack replied, answering Tom’s last question first and beckoning him over to the monitoring station where he pulled up the logs for the last three weeks. "Not until I’m sure. As I said, it could be nothing, but here, look at this."

Some deft manipulation of the program had the graphs turning transparent and superimposing themselves over each other in sequential order. "There’s a pattern, you see?" Jack said, pointing to the almost minute rise in activity at the same times in each forty-eight hour period. "I’m currently leaning towards some sort of communication coming through on a wavelength that this system can’t currently recognize. It’s just too… consistent to be chance."

"We can download the data and send it back to London, let Doc take a look at it," Tom suggested even as he leaned forward to study the readouts.

"We could, but wouldn’t you rather figure it out yourself?" Jack asked. "You boys aren’t exactly lacking when it comes to brains and good instincts, well, for the most part. Doc’s running with an overflowing plate as it is, and to be perfectly blunt about it, he’s never actually dealt with the Rift on a consistent basis, not as part of the Doctor or as John Smith himself. He’s got all the know-how and memories of the Doctor, but he does have limitations."

"Plus he’s ga-ga right now about the possibility of Rose being pregnant," Tom added dryly. "And if that’s the case..." He nudged Jack out of the way and hit a few keystrokes, smiling in satisfaction as the display changed. "I think that shows the pattern you’re talking about in a clearer fashion."

Jack crossed his arms over his chest and watched Tom work, flashing the younger man an approving grin as the display changed. "Not bad, kid. Not bad at all," he chuckled. "Guess this means we’d better get the team up and get to work."

Tom nodded as he keyed the com panel. "Ross and Jake, you mean; I’ll call Ianto; he’s out for his run. And you can have the honors of waking your sleeping beauty."

"Wouldn’t exactly call him a beauty," Jack chuckled, ignoring the flip flop his stomach did at the thought of a sweaty and panting Jones. "He drools and snores in his sleep. But I probably should take a shower and get dressed. Wouldn’t want to offend Ross’ delicate sensibilities."

"At this rate we’re going to have to pay for him to get any," Tom chuckled as he keyed the radio to call Ianto back in.

"Trust me when I say the alternate reality was _much_ worse when it came to Lisa. At least this one lived," Jack replied quietly. "Of course the other one had better taste in men," he continued, trying to make light of it. "She was living with Ianto."

"Huh," Tom murmured, surprised and intrigued by this tidbit of information; aside from what Rose had told them in the beginning, none of them except Jake really knew anything about Jack Harkness.

"Yeah," Jack replied, feeling the need to share at least a bit of his life. "You probably know part of the story - we had your Cybermen invade my old universe. They managed to take out most of Torchwood One before they were stopped, thanks to the Doctor, Rose, Jake and a lot of brave men and women who died trying to defend Torchwood, and the Earth, from the invasion. And to top it all off, the Daleks showed up too – fuckers.

"Anyhow, Lisa was in R&D and Ianto was the Alien Tech archivist at One. It was Ianto that ended up in Cardiff and talked me into letting him join Three, not Lisa. I’m sure you can fill in the blanks." Well, truthfully, he wouldn’t be able to fill in all the gaps, especially Ianto’s duplicity and the Cyberwoman in the basement , but Jack would rather forget the rest of the story himself, so… no, it was better to let those particular memories fade into nothingness; it wasn’t as if Jack needed to remember those moments after all – he just needed to remember his lover and his love – he needed only to remember Ianto.

"Anyhow, a shower and a wake up call for me and you get to wake Ross the Grouch," Jack said, refocusing on the present. "Say meet back here in half an hour? Does anyone on your team know how to make a decent cup of coffee?"

"Not I and you’ll have to ask the others to find out if they do," Tom called as Jack left.

"Damn. I could use a decent cup of Joe," Jack muttered as he climbed the stairs towards the guest rooms only to come up short as Jones appeared at the other end of the catwalk hallway. He was flushed, dripping sweat, chest heaving with his exertions and looking far too perfect for Jack’s peace of mind. "Screw the Joe, I need a scotch," he groaned quietly as his libido kicked in and his mind tried to slap it back into submission while he tried to figure out if he should keep going or run and hide until the younger man passed by.

Ianto raised his head and stopped when he saw Jack at the other end of the walkway, half-dressed and his hair in disarray as if he’d just climbed out of bed – which he probably had. "Jesus fuck," he muttered under his breath as the arousal he’d finally run off slammed back into him. Recovering, he started to walk again, closing the distance between them, preparing to pass the other man and head toward the shower. "I hope the fact that you’re out here doesn’t mean you wore Jake out," he commented.

Jack’s chuckle was low and dirty. "He was still passed out and smiling when I went to check on the Rift," Jack glanced down at his wrist strap and read the digital display. "Shit, over an hour ago. Time really does fly when you’ve got a mystery to solve," he laughed ruefully.

"Anyway, I’m on my way to wake him and grab a shower. I’ve got a project for you boys. Tom’s waking Ross right now, and I want everyone in the monitoring room in half an hour, so we’d both better get a move on."

"Mystery, what mystery?" Ianto turned and shouted the question at Jack’s vanishing back. Cursing at the lack of an answer, he took off, running toward the bunk room to grab a shower and change, beating the others to the monitoring room by a good ten minutes, winding up deep in conversation with Tom when the other three finally arrived.

"Let me guess, you also snooped around for your Christmas presents because you couldn’t stand the suspense," Jack asked Jones mildly as he strode into the room, hair still damp from his shower. "He did, didn’t he?" Jack asked Jake with a grin. "And he reads the last chapter of the book first to know what happens."

"In some things, surprise isn’t good," Ianto shot back even as he moved back to give the others a view of the monitor. "So please, update us."

Jack’s eyebrow went up at that. "Impatient and eager. An interesting set of personality traits," he observed. "Fine, I’ll _update_ you," Jack continued, contemplating in amusement how Jones would react when he found out that Jack was going to be his new boss. This little mystery was proving to be even more beneficial than Jack anticipated because if nothing else came of it, he’d know for certain how well he’d be able to work with the other man.

"Tom, bring up the graphs on the wall display, will you?" Jack requested of the team doctor and then launched into his observations and an outline of this morning’s findings with Tom providing the visual display of what he was saying. When he finally wrapped up, he looked at the four men. "So what’s your next move?" he asked, pointedly removing himself from the scenario. Time for him to see what the Wild Boys were really made of.

"I know this may sounds low tech," Jake began slowly, his mind working through the possibilities. "But has anyone tried running the signal through a Goldwave to see if that turns up anything?"

Tom glanced over at Jack and, at a negative shake of his head, started to do the requested task, only to be bumped out of the way by Ross. "It doesn’t have a broken leg; let the master get to work." He performed the task Jake had suggested, then several others of his own devising as well, stopping when Ianto leaned in.

"Look, there, not only is it cyclical timewise, there’s also locational correlation. Ross, switch it to a 3-D layout of the city." After Ross did as he asked, he pointed out the clusters. "It’s bunching."

"Multiple targets then," Jack said from where he’d come to silently stand directly behind and to the left of Jones in order to watch them work. "This suggests that this isn’t something physical coming through the Rift. It looks like we have deliberate Rift chatter or things coming through and being intercepted at those points. That means that this is likely a coordinated effort – but to what end?"

"The only way to find out is to check out those locations, see if we can find anything out there," Ianto pointed out.

"Uploading the data to the SUV’s computers," Ross announced as his fingers flew over the keys.

"Sync to my wrist strap too," Jack ordered, taking it off so that it could be connected through the small data port on the underside.

"There are five of us, so we’ll cover more ground if we break into two teams. Tom, I want you to stay here and be our eyes and ears through the CCTV cameras. It sucks, I know, but you’ve been up longest, so your reflexes will be the slowest if something should hit the fan," Jack pointed out logically.

Tom looked over at Ianto for confirmation, nodding at his team lead’s agreement. "Ross, you and Harkness take the eastern clusters; you can take the SUV he brought up. Jake and I will handle the western ones."

Ross handed Jack his wrist strap back. "Data’s uploaded there, also downloaded our communications program to it – unless Doc gave you a com patch or armor disc?"

"Didn’t need the com patch before so I never bothered to get one, and I don’t need an armor disc so I told him to keep it," Jack replied absently as he did up the fastenings around his wrist. "After all, even when I die, I come back so it’s no big deal."

Jake frowned at the pronouncement. It might not be a big deal, but from what he’d gleaned from Jack’s stories, it could be quite painful depending on the extent of the older man’s injuries. However, he bit his tongue and remained silent as it wasn’t his place to insist that Jack follow SOP. Having Jack ride roughshod over Ianto’s command was one thing because he was a bit of a loose cannon to begin with, but Jake wasn’t about to step on his friend’s toes just because he was sleeping with Harkness. It was up to Ianto to address the situation – and deal with it when Jack refused like Jake already knew he would. "I’ll go load up the spare vehicle too, then. Ross, give me a hand, will you?"

After Jake and Ross left, Ianto looked over at Tom. "Review the time frames of the last cluster, and let us know if you find anything." Tom nodded, and he and Jack started out. "Doc didn’t send an extra disc," Ianto commented as they headed toward the garage.

"Like I said, no big deal. I don’t need armor because I can’t permanently die. It doesn’t make sense to waste it on me when people who do stay dead need it more." Shrugging into his greatcoat, Jack took out his sidearm and checked to make sure that there was a bullet in the chamber and that the clip was full and that the safety was off. "Sorry if I overstepped back there. It’s hard to remember that I’m not really in charge anymore."

"No need to apologize, I’m not going to turn down good ideas." Ianto’s gaze went unfocused for a second before he subvocalized an answer. "Tom sent some new data to the SUVs – and it doesn’t matter if you can come back from the dead or not, there’s no point in dying in the first place if you don’t need to." Ianto’s slightly skeptical tone said he didn’t quite believe the claim.

Jack chuckled softly. "When you’ve done it as often as I have, you get used to it," he pointed out with black humor. "Besides, think of all the new and interesting ways I can die. It never gets dull. But don’t worry; I don’t plan on dying in this jacket. It’s the last one I’ve got, and I want to keep it for a while. It was a," Jack paused a moment, "a gift from a good friend."

"It’s good to have something to remember friends by," Ianto agreed, stopping at the munitions locker and removing a machine pistol and checking it over. "Do me a favor; while you’re out there, remember that this isn’t your Cardiff; follow Ross’s lead if something’s unfamiliar."

"Yes, Dad," Jack replied with a snicker. "Seriously, Jones, I’m not going to take any chances. Stop fussing over me; I’m not one of your team, and I can take care of myself. Thanks for thinking of me though. I mean that," and Jack did. It warmed an iced-over part of his heart - which both concerned him and filled him with a bittersweet sadness. He really was learning to live without Ianto’s presence; because even if Jones was physically an exact match, personality wise they were as different as cheese and chalk, and yet, even in this universe which was so very different from his own, there was a Ianto Jones still taking care of him – even if this one was a pain in his ass nine times out of ten.

"Be that as it may," Ianto said as they entered the garage, "you are my responsibility while we’re here, so you’d better get used to doing as I say."

"Oh baby, I love it when you take charge like that," Jack shot back without really thinking as he headed to the SUV he’d ‘requisitioned’ when he’d come to Cardiff a week ago. Ross was already behind the wheel and waiting for him and it continued to amuse him how the members of Alpha team continued to play chauffeur for him despite his intimate knowledge of the city. Yet another sign of Jones’ need to protect the consultant, Jack guessed.

"So what’s the new information that Tom sent?" he asked the other man, his parting shot already forgotten with the thrill of the chase before him.

Jake, who’d been waiting outside the vehicles for them to appear, laughed easily as he got behind the wheel of the other SUV. "Looks like he’s finally stopped avoiding you at all costs, then."

"Makes it easier for all of us since it seems he’s staying until we figure out what’s going on with these signals," Ianto shrugged as he climbed into the passenger side of the vehicle, giving everything a once-over as he did so to make sure they had all the gear they needed.

"Yeah, but there’s avoiding and then there’s avoiding," Jake replied. "Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad he’s coming out of that shell he’s been burying himself under. It’s just weird, you know? Him flirting with you when he’s getting over, well, _you_."

"From what I understand, him flirting is instinctual - now are you going to drive, or are we going to let the two of them figure this out before we even get to our site?" Ianto asked before logging on the computer to scan the information Tom had sent over.

Jake raised an eyebrow at the tacit order but did as he was told. Some things were better left alone after all.


	7. Chapter 7

It was the third park out of three search locations, not merely a coincidence any longer and not monitored by CCTV, how very convenient that. Tired of playing it safe, Jack had been out of the car before Ross could even put it in park, saying they’d cover more ground if they split up and to keep their comlinks open. Which was the reason why Jack was blithely ignoring Ross’s grumbling voice echoing from his wrist strap as he poked around an isolated area of the park near the epicenter of the readings for this location.

"Trees, trees, and more trees," Jack muttered. "Oh look, a dog pissing on a bush and a dead owl, gross. Hunh. Dead owl." Owls were predators, so they usually only died of old age or when hunted by bigger predators. This one looked young, healthy and in its prime. So why was it dead? More importantly, why hadn’t a scavenger already consumed it?

Going on instinct, Jack scaled the tree under which he’d found the owl, not sure what he was looking for but knowing he was on the right track.

"Harkness? Harkness!" Ross growled, easing through the trees in search of the other man, coming to a halt when he found himself staring at the barrel of a pistol. "Just me, mate. You went quiet on me."

"Yeah, well, I don’t feel the urge to talk every waking second," Jack retorted. "We have any bag and tag equipment in the car?"

Ross nodded and tilted his head to the side, trying to see what was behind Jack. "What’d you find?"

"Dead owl and… something else, a cocoon of some sort, and it was definitely not made by local flora or fauna. Can you grab them, and let Jones know while you’re at it? I’m going to climb a few more trees while you’re gone to see if I can find another cocoon, and when you get back, I’ll collect the sample I’ve found in this one."

"Climb – just don’t fall out on your head; you’d be hell to drag back to the SUV," Ross sighed as he turned to head back to collect the equipment and contact the rest of the team.

"Is the entire team made up of mother hens?" Jack asked, not expecting an answer. "Sheesh. I’m older than Methuselah, have died more times than the Doctor’s regenerated, and still I’m being henpecked. I don’t get it."

~*~*~

"Ross says that Harkness found something, some kind of cocoon and a dead owl," Ianto told Jake as they worked their way through the underbrush in an overgrown park area. "They’re bringing them back to the Hub for – " He fell silent and held a hand up before pointing toward a hand sticking out from beneath a bush.

"I think we found something a little bigger than the owl," was Jake’s only comment as he drew his sidearm and began to slowly walk forward, all senses on high alert. "No sign of movement in the surrounding area. Should we wait for Ross and Jack to back us up?"

Ianto gave a sharp negative shake of his head. "Too far away. Keep your eyes open, and I’ll check it out." Drawing his own pistol, he prodded the hand with his booted foot, crouching down when there was no reactive movement.

"Deceased," he called out after checking the wrist for a pulse. "Not totally cold so it happened some time in the night." He pushed back the branches of the bush and frowned as he studied the shabbily dressed elderly man’s body. "Looks homeless. He’s got some kind of rash on his neck, not sure if it’s related to the COD. We’re going to have to bag him and take him back to the Hub, let Tom get a look at him."

"Bloody hell," Jake groaned. "I hate bagging duty. It’s the reason I went into munitions, not medicine! Nothing left but little bits after things go boom."

Grumbling half-heartedly under his breath, Jake made his way back to the car to get the body bag, gurney and gloves. As he did so, he hit the com to advise Tom of their discovery, figuring that Ianto would want to inform the other team himself.

Across the city Jack listened to Ross’s one-sided conversation with Jones, his attention sharpening when he heard ‘body’ and Ross asking if they needed back up. "I take it they found a stiff?" Jack interjected, tapping Ross’s arm to get his attention. "Tell them to _carefully_ look in the trees in the surrounding area. They’ll be looking for a cocoon of sorts. They won’t be able to miss it – it’ll look like a decoration from a parade float – brightly colored, translucent and almost crystalline in consistency."

Ross rolled his eyes at being the ‘monkey in the middle’ of this conversation but did as Jack asked. "Ianto, Jack wanted me to ask you to look in the trees surrounding the body…"

"And tell them to wear hazmat gloves if they find one," Jack interrupted again, making Ross shoot a fast scowl in his direction. Jack just grinned and continued on blithely. "That one I found was coated in a mild acidic compound. Ate the first couple of layers off my hand by the time I got down to drop it in the bag. Good thing I’m ambidextrous or that might have been an issue."

The SUV swerved slightly as Ross took his eyes off the road completely to glare at Jack. "This is something I _do not need to know_!" he all but snarled at the other man. "And why the hell didn’t you tell me when it happened? You might need medical attention!" Ross railed. "And it’s bad enough I get this shite from my team, but if you start on me, Harkness, so help me…"

"I didn’t tell you because it wasn’t anything that wouldn’t heal, and I was referring to the fact that I may need to relieve myself thanks to the three cups of coffee I had this morning. You’re a little tense, Ross; is there a problem?" Jack informed the driver far too innocently to be truly believed.

The younger man scowled, and after muttering under his breath about being surrounded by nutters who had no right to be getting more than he did, Ross relayed the message, keeping his eyes on the road ahead of them in the hope that Harkness would get the hint and stop nattering on.

The two teams made it back to the Hub, delivering their discoveries to Tom, who looked back and forth from the dead man to the three cocoons, Ianto and Jake having found two in the area around the decedent. "Which would you rather have me look at first?"

"The corpse," Ianto said, shooting Jack a glare when he started to speak at the same time. "Let’s find out what killed him before we get into those buggers. They can go in the stasis chamber until we’re ready so we don’t get any nasty surprises."

Jack held up his hands in mock submission. "Far be it from me to interfere with what the boss says to do," he replied, his voice full of barely restrained amusement.

"However, would it be possible for me to get a topical analgesic from Tom before he starts cutting into the body? My palm currently feels like it’s been rubbed raw, and while not painful, exactly, it’s kind of aggravating."

"Harkness!" Ross groaned. "You said it wasn’t bad. And would you knock it off with the innuendo, would you? Else I might be tempted to find out first hand if you really can’t die forever."

"Wot the hell were you two doing out there?" Jake asked even as Tom grabbed a tube of the requested ointment and tossed it to Jack, who caught it one-handed.

Ianto sighed and shook his head as he carried the containers with the cocoons to the stasis chamber, set them inside and turned it on, keying the lock to open at his code only - with his luck Harkness would convince Jake to include them in some kind of sex game if he didn’t secure them.

Jack burst into laughter, at both Jake’s reaction and Ross, who’d turned to bang his head against a nearby wall in frustration. "I followed my gut, climbed a tree and found a cocoon. Once Ross got the bagging gear, I grabbed it to bring it in. It started to itch right away, burn about halfway down, and by the time I’d put it in the container Ross had grabbed from the vehicle, I’d lost a couple layers of skin. Better that than dropping it," Jack said with a shrug. "Besides, it’s already starting to scab over – which is why it itches like a son of a bitch right now."

Jake sighed and, with a shake of his head, grabbed the ointment from Jack’s hand. "C’mon, you daft bugger. You might be bloody talented with those hands of yours, but this time I think you’ll need a little help t’get the job done."

"I thought we all were on duty?" Jack murmured quietly, eyes crinkling at the corners with suppressed mirth as he and Jake bantered back and forth. "Wouldn’t want the ‘boss’ to ream me out for not following orders."

Jake bit back a moan, shook his head as if to clear it and took a reluctant step back. Leave it to Jack to step up the game and make him want things he couldn’t have until his next night off. "Yes, we are on duty, and no, you wouldn’t want him to, considering you don’t do that," he shot back with a shaky laugh. "C’mon – we’ll go into the infirmary to take care of this.

"Mmm, I always did have a thing for doctors…" Jack’s voice trailed off as he watched Jones walk back into the room, a scowl still firmly plastered on his face. It made Jack’s heart beat slightly faster, much to his consternation. That was another of those roads he wasn’t going to go down, dammit. Besides, he wasn’t a long term commitment kind of guy. It was hard to be when you never grew old and died while your partners did. And then there was the whole issue of this being _Ianto Jones_ \- nothing like falling for your dead lover’s doppelganger to fuck with your head even more than it already was. Nope, Jack was definitely through with commitment, relationships and anyone named Ianto Jones. He might be lonely, but he’d be safe – and sane.

"However, for the good of the job, and Ross’s sanity, I’ll behave. Besides, I wouldn’t want to get you in trouble with the _boss_ ," he drawled lazily. "C’mon, let’s get me patched up and back out there so no one thinks I’m molesting you behind their backs."

"Or in front of them," Tom commented between dictating notes about the body in front of him into the recorder.

"Ross, why don’t you go over to the local constabulary, see if they have any information regarding any other suspicious deaths in the area," Ianto said, deciding the youngest member of their team needed a break. The locals were supposed to let Torchwood know about anything odd, but sometimes things slipped through the cracks.

"On my way," Ross breathed thankfully, practically racing out of the autopsy room.

"You’d think he’d learn that if he didn’t react as much, Jake would tone it down," Tom chuckled.

"You’d think that, wouldn’t you?" Ianto laughed, donning a spare surgical gown and gloves, then leaning against the wall and watching the taller man work. "Let me know when you need a hand."

Tom nodded absently, already immersed back in his work, calling Ianto over when he required assistance in removing the chest plate and various organs.

After Jake had finished washing, slathering and bandaging his hand and had gone to check on the armory stocks, Jack took a second to look in on the morgue where Ianto was busy with Tom. He didn’t stick his head in or offer to lend a hand because it wasn’t needed. The team worked well together and cohesively. It made him feel a little bit redundant, truth be told.

However, it also gave Jack some ‘alone’ time without one of the Wild Boys underfoot. Time enough to slip out and look in on one last team member before he called Rose and gave her his answer. Jack figured there was no sense delaying the inevitable. He wanted this, dammit, wanted back in the game even if it was only as a desk jockey.

Slipping quietly out a side door, Jack turned off his wrist strap and headed towards his last ‘goodbye’. During his week in Cardiff Jack had spotted a nearby flower shop, and it was a rare, sunny day in the City, so instead of grabbing a vehicle, and quite possibly having Jake volunteer to go with him, Jack set out on foot. The walk to the hospital was an easy one, and the solitude would give him time to get his thoughts in order.

Stopping long enough to pick up a dozen pink cala lilies, Jack made his way to the Llandough Hospital and, after flashing his Torchwood badge, let himself into the catatonic patient’s room. "Hello, Suzie, my name is Jack Harkness, and once upon a time in another universe you and I worked together."

~*~*~

It was past midnight when the proximity alarm beeped, letting Ianto, who had Rift duty that evening, know someone was approaching the Hub. He glanced up from the book he had been half-reading, watching the screen as Harkness walked into the building. There hadn’t been any Rift activity that evening, and the samples Tom had removed from the dead man were still being processed, so he’d had plenty of time to contemplate just what tack to take regarding Harkness’ disappearance. It didn’t matter if the man was on his team or not; he was part of Torchwood, and that meant he was Ianto’s responsibility whether they liked it or not. Vanishing without a fare-thee-well and then turning off all communications - that didn’t go over well, not in the least.

Jack let himself into the Hub as quietly as he could. He probably owed Jake an apology for taking off like he had, but he didn’t really feel like explaining where he’d gone or why, so instead of heading to the barracks, he headed towards the upper level and the guest room he’d commandeered when Delta team had been evacced. Jack had come to Cardiff in order to let go of his past - a past no one but Rose and John truly knew about or understood - and he really didn’t feel like sharing all the gory details of how each member of his team had ended up dead save one with all and sundry, even if he was sleeping with one of them.

Besides, it had been a rough day, and Jack was feeling more unstable than he had since first arriving in this universe. It had been rough, seeing Suzie and knowing that even without his involvement she had still found her way into Torchwood and she’d still allowed her obsessions to control her. It seemed that some people truly couldn’t be saved no matter what the circumstances.

Then again, some things did, Jack thought with a smile as he thought back on the conversation he’d had barely an hour ago. After leaving the facility where Suzie would spend the rest of her days, Jack had wandered the city for hours, lost in thought. He hadn’t even noticed the setting of the sun, and it had only been when his stomach rumbled that he realized he’d been gone for the better part of the day. Parking himself in a local fish and chip shop, Jack had ordered dinner and called Rose.

~*~*~

"Rose Tyler-Smith’s office," Donna’s voice had sounded in his ear.

"Hey, Red, why are you still at work?"

"Jack! How are you, beefcake? Things all right? I’m working a bit late because Ru’s taking me on an extended weekend to meet his family – not a word out of you!"

"Wouldn’t dream of it. At least tell me he’s good in bed."

"Ooooiiiii, watchit you!"

Jack chuckled at that. "Patch me through to Rose, will you, Red? And have a great time." Jack listened as the phone clicked over and then was picked up again. "I’m in. Start the ball rolling, beautiful. You have yourself a new head of Field Operations."

"Paperwork went out yesterday, you prat," Rose laughed. "We knew you wouldn’t say no."

"Please don’t tell me I’m getting predictable in my old age," Jack groaned.

"No, we just knew you wouldn’t be able to resist that particular carrot, which was why we dangled it," Doc chimed in. "Torchwood is in your blood, Jack, as is protecting people. And you’re good at it. You just needed time to realize that and to heal. Now you can start saving the world again and let Rose and I get back to making babies…..OW!"

"Jack, I’ll call you tomorrow. Right now I need to have a talk with my husband," Rose growled in the phone before disconnecting the call.

~*~*~

 _And so it begins again_ , Jack thought to himself with a wry chuckle as he made his way up the stairs to his room. At least Rose would give him some breathing room to adjust to the idea – as well as give herself some time to break it to the teams – but by the time he went back to London, everyone would know that Torchwood was now led by three people – John and Rose Tyler-Smith and Jack Harkness. Drumroll please.

"Next time you take off, leaving your communications program open would be a good idea," Ianto commented mildly from the doorway to the monitoring room.

Jack pulled up short at the sound of Jones’s voice, sucked in a sharp breath and schooled his expression into the laid-back mask he wore when he didn’t want people to see anything but the surface. "Well, technically now that you’ve assumed command, I’m back on vacation agai…" Jack’s words died in his throat as he finally looked up and caught sight of the other man leaning casually against the doorjamb. Jones’ arms were crossed over his chest, and he’d crossed his legs at the ankles too, his hip and one leg bearing his full weight. The fatigues were standard issue for this Torchwood, although his were a little too snug to be truly decent, and his t-shirt was also standard issue black – except it looked about a size too small and highlighted every muscle on the man’s torso from his rock hard abs to the bulging biceps and… holy fuck, was that a tattoo on his right one? Not good. So very not good!

"You’re here, that means you check in, unless you want to... give up on our little mystery," Ianto shot back, his tone still even.

"I did check in," Jack replied, his voice going positively laconic. "With Rose and Doc. Had a long conversation with them too. Donna’s meeting Ru’s family his weekend, by the way. Looks like it’s serious."

"Good for them." A hint of frustrated tension crept into Ianto’s voice. "Check in with the team where you are; it makes life simpler and saves me having to waste manpower sending someone out to find you."

"Did you ever consider that maybe I didn’t want to be found for the short span of time I’ve been gone?" Jack was starting to get annoyed now. "I came here to take care of some personal business, and while I’m all for helping out where I can, I’d already delayed my plans once thanks to Delta’s pizza fiasco. Don’t get me wrong, I’m having a blast doing fieldwork again, but this was none of anyone’s business but my own. Now that it’s done, the communicator stays on for the duration, but today was non-negotiable. Now if that’s all, Mr. Jones…"

"Actually, it isn’t, Captain Harkness," Ianto snapped, straightening up and stepping out of the doorway. "I have no desire to snoop after your gallivanting, but you will leave us a way to get in touch with you, do you understand? If that’s too much trouble, I would suggest you head back to London and run around there."

Jack’s fists clenched as he went from being mildly annoyed to fucking pissed in the space of a heartbeat, and he had to force himself to relax, let the tension drain away and shut himself down. "I was at Llandough Hospital visiting a woman who in my universe had been my second in command." Jack’s tone was pure ice. "She’s in the Lalanfair Unit – feel free to check; it’s a Torchwood Psych Ward. I used my ID to get in to visit. Patient name is Suzie Costello. Apparently she played fast and loose with some alien tech and ended up catatonic. I spent most of the afternoon with her, and surprisingly enough after watching such a brilliant woman lie there, nothing more than a drooling, empty shell, I really didn’t feel like going out and fucking the first thing that moved. A miracle, I know. Now if you’ll excuse me."

"Christ, Harkness, all it would have taken was a few words, a note, _something_ and to leave the fucking com on. You didn’t have to answer it, hell, I don’t think anyone would even have called you, but we would have been able to fucking find you if we needed to!" The volume of Ianto’s voice had risen even as the tone turned harsh.

"Message received loud and clear – hell, I think they heard you in the barracks. Good night, Jones!" Jack growled as he stalked past the younger man, tired of politely waiting for the conversation to be over.

"You are such a fuckwit," Ianto growled, looking as if he was torn between strangling Jack and something else.

"And you’re an overbearing pussy, so what’s your point?"

"If we’re all so fucking useless, why are you hanging around? Why are you staying here? You could have come to Cardiff, and no one would have been the wiser."

"I didn’t say you were useless," Jack retorted, surprise killing the annoyance in his voice. "I said you’re an overbearing pussy. I actually happen to think you’ve got a great team with amazing instincts. I’m the one who’s feeling useless right now. As for why I didn’t just come to Cardiff – I don’t want to be in Cardiff. I came here to bury the past; why the fuck would I want to try and resurrect it?"

"I meant to visit, not to stay," Ianto pointed out, regaining his hold on his temper as well.

"I hate to break it to you, Jones, but I _was_ staying somewhere else in Cardiff. Donna was the only one who knew where I’d gone, and when Delta went down, she told, and Rose called me.　Donna was my way of making sure that Rose and John didn’t worry. They tend to do that when I disappear. Anyway, when Rose called and briefed me, I checked out of my hotel and came here to keep an eye on the Rift."

Ianto drew in a deep breath and ran his hands through his hair as he blew it out. "I understand that this situation is difficult for you, and I’m not trying to add to it, but we need to be able to get in touch with you. If you need privacy, just let someone know, and the only thing that will make us call you is the impending explosion of the Rift. Is that acceptable?"

"Not as difficult as I thought it would be," Jack said with a shrug of his shoulders. "And the last bit of business is taken care of, so I won’t be disappearing again. You’ve got my undivided attention. I’ll be a good boy and follow the rules from now until we get back to London. You’re the boss," Jack finished with just the faintest bit of malicious amusement in his voice.

Jack had a sudden vision of the shit hitting the fan once Rose told Jones about his new role in Torchwood; however, he really did want to see the Wild Boys handle the situation with Jones calling the shots. Chances were that if he told the younger man of the new change in command, then Jack wouldn’t have the chance to find out just what this team was capable of on their own.

"So glad you realized it, now get some rest, Harkness. Briefing at 0600."

Biting back the urge to laugh as Jones ordered him about, Jack threw a mock salute towards the younger man and made his way into his room before he could give in to the urge to laugh. Jack could already predict the coming explosion and, oddly enough, was looking forward to seeing it. "Definitely not my Ianto," he murmured with a bittersweet smile as he closed his bedroom door behind him. "But I’m learning to live with that. And I’m sure as hell not forgetting you, Ianto, I promise."

Out in the hall, Jake, Ross and Tom relaxed slightly as the situation seemed to defuse itself below them. True to Harkness’ words, the yelling match had made its way into the barracks, and the three men had come out to make sure things didn’t get too explosive. "Oil and bloody vinegar, those two," Ross muttered with a shake of his head. "Actually more like plastique and a detonator. It’s almost impossible to accept that in his universe Ianto was Harkness’ lover."

"Oh, I don’t know about that," Jake replied quietly. "You know what they say about opposites attracting and all that. I have a feeling that Jack’s the sort of guy that you want to stick around – even if it’s just for his prowess."

"Again with the sex talk," Ross groaned. "Prick, you know I’m not getting any!"

"Hit the rack, you lot," Ianto yelled in their direction, his volume much lower than he’d used before. "It’s not the bloody Eastenders in here."

"No, it’s Queer as fucking Folk!" Ross yelled back with a chuckle. "Drama queens and divas everywhere. And our very own pretty princess with his very own tiara."

"Die, Jenkins," Jake snarled, rounding on his friend in order to kick his arse, only to have Ross dance away and make a beeline for the barracks. "You’re Weevil meat, you bastard!"

"Christ, can I go sleep in one of the SUV’s?" Tom sighed as Jake tore after Ross, the two of them making more noise than Ianto and Harkness had at the height of their argument.

"Drug them," Ianto snorted, sending Tom off to try to get back to sleep and turning to go back into the monitoring room, his mind whirring with questions he knew he wouldn’t get answers to.


	8. Chapter 8

At 5:59 am Jack wandered into the office, cup of coffee in one hand and the local newspaper in the other. "Two bodies were found overnight," he commented, tossing the paper in front of Jones, who’d taken up residence behind the desk. "Same weird rash. A hooker and her trick. It made news because they were found in mid-act. Death must have been almost instantaneous," Jack mused as he slid into the chair farthest away from everyone else and became absorbed in his own thoughts as he tried to see a pattern where so far there were only body counts and glittery glowing cocoons.

"At least they went out with a bang," Jake snickered around his mug of tea, his laughter growing at the other’s groans.

"Too early for this," Tom groaned, smothering a yawn with the back of his hand.

"Yeah, well some of us weren’t up all night cybering with their girlfriend," Ross pointed out, to which Tom gave him the finger.

"It wasn’t all night; besides, hearing Ianto and Harkness yammering at each other destroyed the mood."

"My heart bleeds for you," Ianto said, his tone dry. "All right, we’ve got two new bodies then. Tom, that means a trip to the morgue for you; check out the similarities. According to Ross, who spoke to our favorite PC’s at the station, our derelict’s name was Roger Parker. He frequented the park where we found him, generally the harmless sort, just panhandling."

"Certainly harmless now," Jake pointed out.

Ignoring him, Ianto pulled up a series of reports on the screen, then looked at Tom. "All yours, Dr. Milligan."

Tom stood at that and settled himself before pointing at the monitor. "Roger was killed by a paralytic neurotoxin that was injected into him through the neck by hundreds of tiny pin pricks – which is what the rash on his neck is comprised of." He hit a button on the control panel, and the view zoomed in to illustrate the area of the man’s body that he was speaking about.

"Based on the scans, I’d say that the toxin that was introduced to him killed him in a matter of seconds by shutting down his circulatory system – nasty bit of business. So far I’ve come up negative in the database for a match to it, but I’ll keep working on it and looking for a possible antidote."

"So we’ve got someone going after miscreants with poisoned sewing needles?" Ross queried.

"What we have is a possible hostile whose presence is related to the Rift. There were no spikes in Rift activity last night, so things are at status quo in that regard. Today we need to get one of cocoons open, see what’s in it and if it’s related to the situation." Ianto drained his coffee and looked around the group, noting that Harkness seemed deep in thought. "Anything else?"

"Not from me. You want a ride to the morgue, Tommy boy? I’ll pull rank with the PC’s who’re dealing with our love birds and get the name of the person who found the bodies. After you’re done, we can interview whoever it was and get some firsthand information - if there is any," Jake volunteered.

Getting to his feet, Jake made a circuitous trip around the room to touch Jack lightly on the shoulder. "All right there, Jack?" he asked softly.

The hand on his shoulder and Jake’s question pulled Jack from his introspection. "Yeah, fine, just trying to find the pattern and coming up with squat for the moment. "Thanks for asking though." Getting to his feet, Jack finally realized that the briefing was over. "So what’s my assignment, boss?" he asked Ianto with a perfectly straight face. "I can do a coffee run."

"Planning to be our admin, are you?" Ianto’s amusement at the question was clear in his voice. "In case you hadn’t noticed, we do have coffee." He nodded toward the carafe on the desktop then reached over and refilled his mug.

"As for assignments, you can take your pick; I’m going back to the parks to look around, and Ross is going to be digging back through the Rift records to see how long this phenomenon has been going on. When Tom gets back, he’s going to be looking at those cocoons."

‘Talk about a rock and a hard place,’ Jack thought to himself as he mulled over the two options. The pale, almost pained expression on Ross’s face scratched that one, but the idea of working side by side with Jones, being confined in close quarters in the car after his reaction to the younger man the night before, was without a doubt a very bad idea.

"How about we split the parks between us," Jack offered, hoping that he’d be able to take door number three. "That way we can get through them all faster."

"No transpo," Ianto said, shaking his head.

"Looks like you’re stuck with me then, Jones," Jack replied lazily, all the while cursing under his breath and gritting his proverbial teeth. "Must be your lucky day."

"Your choice, Harkness," Ianto replied, his tone a perfect match to Jack’s. "Heaven forbid I tell you where to go and what to do – as long as you check in."

"Just playing by the rules, boss," Jack replied. "This way you know where I go and what I do. Let me grab my coat and then I’m all yours."

"Ahh, my day is complete," Ianto muttered under his breath after Jack was gone from the room, causing Ross to burst into a fit of laughter.

"You know, when he’s not talking about sex, he’s an all right bloke," Ross admitted after finally calming down. "Not that I’d say it to his face or anything. And I guess as far as that other goes, well, Jake’s done a lot worse over the years, but other than you I doubt he could do much better – and if you tell the little shit I said that, I’ll have your bollocks for my car hitch!"

Ianto smirked at that and leaned over to pat Ross on the top of the head. "Just remember, Ianto never forgets, and I’ll be holding that over your head for _years_. As for Harkness, he knows his stuff, can’t deny that; he just needs to get it through his head that he’s not in charge."

"So, you ready to go, _boss_?" Jack said mildly from his position just outside the door, having returned just in time to hear Jones’ last comment and finding it almost too much to contain his amusement at the insane situation he found himself in.

Ianto winced, but his expression was placid as he turned toward Jack. "Am I ready, Ross?" he asked.

"Ianto’s always ready," the younger man laughed.

"Funny, I thought that was supposed to be my line," Jack replied sotto voce, knowing full well that both men thought he was an indiscriminate sex hound who pretty much fucked anything that moved. While once that might have been true, it was so far from the case now it was laughable. Jack had one partner right now - Jake. Not that he was about to dissuade them of this either. His personal life was personal, and Jack intended on keeping it that way.

"All right, so we’ll check Cefn-Onn Country Park first, where we found dear old Roger yesterday before we got to check it," Ianto announced as he walked out of the office and he and Harkness headed for the garage. "And don’t go grabbing any cocoons without gloves, all right? Don’t want you losing more skin and being inconvenienced again."

Jack’s chuckle was low and dirty. "I’m ambidextrous and _incredibly_ flexible. There was no inconvenience. But I’ll wear gloves just to make you happy."

"So glad to hear it," Ianto said dryly, climbing behind the wheel of the SUV and starting the engine. "Safe specimen collecting is important."

"I’m an old pro at it," Jack rejoined as he slid into the passenger seat and then put on a pair of aviator sunglasses, folding his hands behind his head.

"So do _you_ have a sister and a nephew and niece?" Jack asked after a few moments of silence.

Ianto cut a sideways glance in the other man’s direction, wondering if this was going to turn into a game of ‘find out the ways that the same man in two universes was different’. "Two actually. The older one lives in Penarth with her husband and kids, and yes, they’re a boy and a girl; the younger is in university."

"Glad to hear it," Jack said, feeling a sense of relief that some things remained the same even as they changed. "Don’t lose touch with them, okay? Family’s important." Jack paused and then laughed. "Cryptic and a little bit creepy, I’m sure, given the situation but… take the advice – it comes from hard-earned experience."

"Not a problem." Ianto eyed the other man again as he answered before a car swerving in front of him drew his attention back to the busy Cardiff streets. "If Uncle Ianto vanished, who’d take the kiddies to fairs and get them puking sick on sweets and roller coasters?" he chuckled at the last. "The fact that it gives Rhia a night out with Johnny almost makes up for the mess I return the kids in."

"I’m impressed. I had a daughter once. Didn’t see her much after her mother left, and then there was the fact that while she aged, her daddy never did," Jack said softly. "But I wouldn’t trade the good times for anything. Of course, I never got her puking sick on sweets and roller coasters. Her mother would have had my balls if I did," Jack laughed, remembering Lucia Moretti, the feisty Italian woman whom he’d been involved with and who’d borne him Alice.

"That’s the fun of being an uncle," Ianto admitted with a low laugh. "Wind them up and then send them back to Mum and Dad. Claire swears that if she ever has kids, she’s not letting me near them."

"Never had any desire to have any mini-Jones of your own running around underfoot?" Jack asked. "You know, carry on the family name and all that stuff."

Ianto shrugged negligently at that. "Maybe someday; not while I’m doing this and I can’t see myself stopping anytime soon." He almost asked about any other family Jack might have had but didn’t want the conversation to come back around to his counterpart.

"As trite and clichéd as it may sound, there’s never a good time to have kids. Not that I plan on having any again. The negatives kind of outweigh the positives for me at this point," Jack said realistically. "However, given the current path my life is taking, it’s not exactly biologically possible either – at least currently, and while being pregnant was memorable, it wasn’t necessarily a good experience, so I think I’ll forgo going through that a second time."

"Shite, I never know if I should believe half of what comes out of your mouth," Ianto muttered to himself. Even though the story had been confirmed by Rose and Doc, the whole ‘man who cannot die’ parcel was a bit much to swallow, and Ianto wasn’t going to trust it with Harkness’ life, of that he was certain.

"That’s probably one of the smartest things I’ve heard come out of your mouth to date," Jack laughed. "But I never lie unless I’ve got a damned good reason. So that leaves you between a rock and a hard place, doesn’t it? To believe or not to believe and all that."

"And all what?" Ianto asked, sounding confused.

"Don’t tell me you haven’t read Hamlet?" Jack replied, gaping at Jones. "You know, ‘To be, or not to be: that is the question. Whether ‘tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, or to take arms against a sea of troubles, and by opposing end them? To die: to sleep; no more.’ Shakespeare, as in William Shakespeare, the Bard, the guy who made Stratford-on-Avon famous? No?"

"Never heard of him. Must be one of those differences between the universes; from what I understand, a lot is the same, but there are some pretty glaring differences."

"That’s kind of a huge one," Jack laughed. "Shakespeare was considered the greatest playwright ever. His plays were mandatory study matter in schools around the world for centuries. Hunh. Oh God, please don’t tell me that this is the Bubblegum pop universe!" he suddenly gasped in mock horror. "I don’t know if I could live in a world where boy bands and pop princesses are considered high entertainment!"

"You’ve been here four months," Ianto snorted, "you tell me."

"Well, you do have a president instead of a prime minister and monarch." Jack began with a chuckle. "And I haven’t been to any ‘in’ bars or clubs, so I can’t say I know what’s popular, quite honestly. Jazz, blues, anything from the turn of the century up to the 1960’s I tend to listen to, but most modern stuff – not a chance."

"You mean Jake hasn’t played his crap music for you?" Ianto asked, sounding amused.

"I’ve kept him busy," Jack replied dryly, drawing a laugh from the other man’s throat.

"Never stopped him before; almost blew my eardrums out a few times, had the neighbors calling to see if there was a riot."

"Yeah, well, I have a few advantages that you obviously didn’t," Jack drawled, waiting a heartbeat before continuing. "Namely no sound system and a much bigger bed. Isn’t that the turn off to the park coming up?"

Ianto was about to ask Jack how he could say that when he’d never seen his bed but thought better of it and nodded. "Best to start at the back and work our way forward. All the other samples were found in the wilder parts."

He eased the SUV onto the side of the road as deep in the park as motor travel was permitted, turning it around to make escape quicker if it came down to that. Climbing out, he headed to the back and opened the door, removing gloves, a reinforced container and a couple of unmarked cans. "Insecticide," he offered, handing one to Jack. "You never know what came out of those cocoons."

"And you think Raid is going to kill them?" Jack chuckled but took a can anyways. If nothing else, the chemicals made a great impromptu flame thrower. "Or is this one of Doc’s concoctions?"

Jack asked as he followed behind Jones, letting the other man lead the way to the location of the body he’d found the night before. "What I wouldn’t give for a Bekkarin scanner right now," he commented idly as they walked further into the park where things were less kept up and a little more ‘wild’ - the perfect place to hide if you didn’t want to draw attention to yourself. "Because it would make looking for those damned cocoons easier! Parks tend to have a shit load of trees to climb!"

Ianto just smirked at the question about the origin of the repellant, though his gaze was on the ground instead of the trees, searching for any dead wildlife. "Hrmmm…" he mused, stepping into the underbrush, moving deeper into the summer stillness before squatting down . "Dead squirrel – and something else," he called back to Jack, who was still studying the trees. "Unless the butterflies around here have suddenly taken steroids, I think we’ve found our alien."

Jack stared at the vividly hued and far too large to be Earth-based insect in patent disbelief. "You gotta be kidding me. We’re hunting butterflies?" But there was no doubt that the creature bore a strong resemblance to the harmless and attractive bug. "Yeah, but our butterflies don’t kill. At least mine didn’t; I don’t know about the ones here."

"Not here either – I’ll send a picture to Doc to see if he’s ever encountered them before – unless you have?" The last was asked as Ianto looked up at Jack from his crouched position.

"This one’s new to me too. I’ve dealt with emotion-sucking shrimp but not venom-spewing butterflies, so I’m as in the dark as you are." Jack knelt down beside the corpse and, taking a pen out of his pocket, pried open the mandibles of the creature to reveal hundreds of tiny little, razor-sharp teeth. "Oh yeah, definitely our creature. Talk about your pretty poison."

"All right then," Ianto nodded even as he bagged up the butterfly and the dead squirrel, "if we’re lucky, they have a very short lifespan, and that’s the end of them, but if this one just hatched early..."

"Christ, I don’t even want to think about bigger ones than this," Jack swore. "But unless we get a few chrysalides in their cocoons, we’re going to have no idea. Guess I need to climb a tree or two. Try not to check out my ass too obviously when I’m up there, okay?" Jack snickered as he shucked his coat and, tucking a pair of gloves in his back pocket, started to shimmy up the tree closest to where the alien butterfly was.

"You do realize we have some cocoons back at the Hub in the stasis field," Ianto called up after him, ignoring the fact that Harkness commenting on his own ass made it impossible not to look at it.

"We have three," Jack called back down. "Three isn’t enough to get a good sampling from, and you know it. We need at least two to three more so we’ve got a good basis for comparison. AHA! Cracked cocoon up here. We have our leetle bug friend and - son of a bitch!" Jack gasped as he caught movement in the corner of his eye and turned, only to be forced to duck. The cocoon fell to the ground with a dull thud as he drew his gun and tried to get off a couple of shots at the rather large, living, breathing and pissed mutant butterfly heading straight for him. The recoil caused his footing to slip, which had him falling halfway down the tree until the larger, sturdier branches broke his fall. Not bothering to wait and see if it was pursuing, Jack dove to the ground awkwardly, rolling and coming up with the gun pointed in the general direction of the tree, but nothing emerged. "Bad news," he gasped for breath, his face and hands scratched and bleeding slightly. "They get bigger."

"Just how big is bigger?" Ianto asked, scanning the area as well, his pistol in one hand and the can of Doc’s insect spray in the other.

"Eat your face kind of bigger," Jack muttered, eyes darting from tree to tree. "Although it didn’t attack me until I tried to take the cocoon. I think I just met Mom."

"And here she comes," Ianto said, shoving Jack down and raising his gun and the can, triggering both at the same time.

Jack cursed and struggled to his feet just in time to see Jones wing the alien face-eating butterfly, sending it shrieking away in pain and rage. "What the fuck? Do I look like a damsel in distress here? Did I suddenly grow breasts - again - What?" Jack asked, trying to figure out just why Jones was acting like a caveman with a protective streak all of a sudden.

"Grow breasts - what the hell are you on about, Harkness?" Ianto asked, following the alien’s line of flight until it was lost in the trees.

"The sudden he-man throw me to the ground move you just did, I’m not a rank amateur, Jones. In fact I’m willing to lay odds I’m not only a better shot than you, but I know a shit load more about tactics and weaponry than you. You may be in charge of this little adventure, but don’t treat me as a liability when I’m probably the strongest asset you have right now," Jack retorted, picking up the fallen cocoon and putting into the containment vessel.

Ianto’s expression turned bland even as his eyes hardened. "I’m doing my job, Harkness; you ending up dead isn’t in my assignment, so deal with it. Now come on, we need to see if we can track that bugger down."

Jack clenched his fists and bit down until he tasted copper. He’d done this to himself by asking Rose to keep silent for a little while longer, and even now he could take control, but he really did want to see how this team handled the situation and interacted with each other.


	9. Chapter 9

Several hours later they emerged from the undergrowth, disheveled and sweaty. There had been no trace of the queen butterfly, but they had found several more dead animals and four more cocoons. "At least we’re keeping the population down," Ianto commented as they carried the containers back to the SUV. "And Tom’s back from the morgue, so he’s getting started on the cocoons we have at the Hub; he’ll transmit data as he gets it.

"One thing though... considering the size of the one that came after you, there should be more dead wildlife around. Now maybe it dissolves them as it feeds or something, but it doesn’t make sense from an ecological standpoint."

"Could be cocooning them, creating a food cache for its young," Jack suggested as he walked along next to Jones’, carrying his own containers. "Which isn’t creepy at all, is it?"

"Depends how like our butterflies it is," Ianto murmured as they reached the SUV. "It’s the worms that spin the cocoons there, to house them while they metamorphosize. The butterflies, really, they just exist to procreate and lay eggs."

"I don’t even want to think about the size of those caterpillars!" Jack grimaced. "Like alien tapeworms - not pleasant! But seriously, our butterflies drink nectar, correct? So far we only have bodies - animal and human, but I haven’t seen any creepy crawly critters. Which begs the next questions - what do alien caterpillars eat? Maybe they’re the carnivores. I think we’re food. I think we’re dealing with alien vampire butterflies."

"Why can’t the ones that come through ever just be pretty and benevolent?" Ianto sighed as they reached the SUV and he opened the rear hatch so they could load their samples inside.

"Now where would the fun be in that?" Jack laughed as he added his own cases next to Jones’. "Where’s your sense of adventure, Jones? Isn’t this better than a desk job?"

" _Anything_ would be better than that," Ianto gagged, slamming the hatch and walking around to the driver’s side, unlocking the doors before climbing in. "Desk job." He shuddered at that. "Just kill me if that ever happens."

Jack felt a chill chase its way down his spine, and he had to fight to stop himself hyperventilating. _Didn’t mean it, didn’t mean it, don’t think about it, Jacko, just don’t think about it,_ he ordered himself sternly as his hand trembled on the door handle. This wasn’t his Ianto, and Jones had no way of knowing what Ianto’s job function had been in Jack’s universe, nor did he know the pride Ianto had taken in his work. All Jones really knew was that Ianto had been Jack’s lover and now he was dead.

It didn’t stop it from feeling like an eternity for Jack to get himself under control, but when he looked up, Jones was only just noticing that he hadn’t gotten into the SUV yet. Pasting on Jack Harkness smile number 5, the ‘I’m a big damned hero, look beneath the surface at your own risk’ one, he climbed into the car. "So, back to the lab then and let the good Dr. Milligan have a crack at our little bastards?"

"And see what he’s found about the bodies," Ianto nodded, starting the SUV and heading back to the Hub. "I’ll also get in touch with the police and news outlets, issue a warning to stay away from the parks after dark."

"Oh goody, nothing like staking out Cardiff parks at night," Jack replied with insincere enthusiasm. "Just don’t pair me up with Ross again. I may not live to see the morning, given the current state of his, shall we say, frustration."

"He’s on Rift duty, so I think his not-quite virginal ears are safe from your comments," Ianto said dryly. "No chance on pairing you up with Jake, so if you want to go out, it’s going to be with Tom or I. Not going to be out all night either way or we’ll all be too fagged to think straight in the morning."

"Gee, thanks," Jack replied dryly. "Believe it or not, Jake and I do more than just fuck, and I’m pretty sure I can control myself on the job. But suit yourself, doesn’t matter to me. I’m just the consultant, after all."

Ianto cut a sidelong glance at that. "Not talking about your control."

"Care to elaborate as to what you are talking about, then?"

Ianto sighed, his lips pressing into a thin line at having to explain the situation. "Jake is in lust, and keeping him away from temptation is the easiest way to deal with the situation."

"While I’m more than happy to take the compliment, Jake and I are just friends with benefits, as the saying goes," Jack said after a few moments. "He’s just acting like a dog in heat to yank chains. Honestly, we talk as much, if not more, than we actually sleep together."

"Glad to hear it." Conversation dwindled after that, and they drove the rest of the way to the Hub in silence. The group, minus Jake who hadn’t returned from the police station yet, gathered in the office so Tom could go over what he’d found.

"The couple died from the same type of poison as our Roger did," he announced, bringing up a complicated looking chemical formula. "This is what was injected into the victims. It’s nothing I’ve ever seen before, but it works by shutting down the circulatory system almost instantaneously. Toxic stuff; if I can get a sample of it, I’ll work on an antivenin, but it would have to be administered within seconds of the bite to work."

"Well, that puts paid to my idea of using us as a food source," Jack sighed. "Why would you want to poison what you planned on eating?"

"Who’s being eaten, then?" Jake piped up from the entranceway, a wide grin on his face.

"Didn’t get much out of PC Andy and PC Gwen, I’m afraid, even on the ride back when they were out of earshot of the officials. Beat cops are being kept in the dark, and not even the detectives seem to know what to make of this. Their coroner’s report came back claiming it was neurotoxin, which has the constabulary on very quiet high alert. I had to pull rank and tell them Torchwood was handling it and they were to continue keeping it hush-hush – no leaking it to the media and the public, or there’d be hell to pay from on high," he reported as he came to stand between Ianto and Jack, who were looking over Tom’s shoulders at the formula.

"No one’s being eaten," Jack replied before any further comment could be made. "PC Gwen… as in Gwen Cooper? Well, if anyone could dig up what was going on in the higher ups, it would be her, so if she can’t get the dirt, they’re really playing close to the vest."

"You knew her then?" Jake asked.

"Recruited her myself – I’d rather it wasn’t done a second time around, if it’s all the same to everyone. The less my worlds collide the better for my sanity. I’m quite happy with the status quo as it is right now. There are enough differences that I don’t think about it most days."

"Right then, note to self – don’t suggest PC Cooper gets recruited," Jake replied. "That what our poison looks like then?" he asked, looking at the detailed formula on Tom’s screen.

"That didn’t take long," Ross commented as he studied the slowly rotating molecule.

"Analyzed it, still need to see what I can do with it," Tom answered. "Looking at our specimens will help."

"We’ve got some more for you," Ianto commented, glancing over at Jack as he spoke. "Found a dead sample of what probably comes out of the cocoons, and Harkness climbed a tree to get some more cocoons – also found what may be the primary infestation: big mother of a butterfly, seemed to want to hit on Harkness."

"Nah, not my type. I try to stay away from venomous life forms. Now if we were talking about an inhabitant from the Forest of Cheem... mmmm, what those sentient trees can do with their branches," Jack expounded, more to yank Ross’ chain than anything else.

"Oh God, is he going on about sex again?" Ross groaned.

"With trees," Tom nodded.

"But apparently venomous bugs are beneath him," Ianto added with a small smile.

"Christ," Ross moaned before getting back to business. "All right, checked back over the records for the last three months, the pattern started showing up three weeks ago, centralized in one location first, then spreading out from there. It hasn’t increased in strength, always staying low and in the background, but the quantity of signals has increased every two weeks."

"So what are we looking at?" Jack asked. "An infestation maybe? Our little buggy friends found a new hole to crawl into and ended up on this side of the Rift? Do we know it’s the actual creatures coming through, or could it be a communication of some kind, like ‘come and get it’ signal?"

"But we’ve only had one big bug sighting," Jake pointed out. "You know, when it tried to eat your face. So maybe something else."

"But what?" Tom added. "We’re still missing puzzle pieces. This doesn’t make sense yet."

"So we gather data, hopefully try to catch one of them alive," Ianto mused as he straightened up. "Tom, after you get your samples, send some to London so they can work on the antivenin as well."

"Can I requisition a giant flyswatter?" Ross asked.

"Irradiated butterfly nets," Jack suggested with a perfectly straight face. "No, how about butterfly prods?"

Tom snorted even as he closed down the program he’d been running. "You’d find a way to do something sexual with it, so, no."

"Actually..." Jake began but then stopped at Ross’s death glare. "Never mind – but it was me, not him, just to set the record straight."

Jack burst into laughter at that. "Jake, I think it’s safe to say that that record is anything but straight!"

"Oh for fuck sake!" Ross growled. "Enough already! Please. I can’t take the torture anymore."

Jake was about to open his mouth again when Jack laid his hand on the other man’s arm. "Okay, fair enough. Moving on to other topics, according to the ‘boss’ here, Ross has Rift duty, so, Tom, looks like you have either Jake or me to partner with for our little midnight strolls through Cardiff’s parks. Any preference?"

"There are six parks; wouldn’t it be easier it we each took one?" Tom asked.

Ianto looked around the group, not saying anything for the moment.

Jack was almost ready to open his mouth but reined himself in last second. "Not my call," he said with a careless shrug. "I’m gonna call Rose and find out how things are going in London. Someone let me know what my assignment is, okay?" he said easily, knowing he needed to escape fast before he tromped on Jones’ toes again and tried to take command.

Jake looked after Jack with a puzzled look on his face. "What was all that about?" he asked after a moment. "This have anything to do with your argument last night?"

"That was about keeping in contact. I’m going to keep him safe, not dictate how he wants to help. I’d rather have him paired with Tom tonight. I’ll be at Rhia’s, but I’ll have my patch on if you need to get in touch with me."

"I’ll keep him safe," Tom cut in before Jake could voice his opinion.

Jake shook his head but held his tongue. If the rest of the team was determined to think that Jack couldn’t take care of himself - a fact Jack seemed to be supporting through his actions and attitudes, which was another thing that Jake didn’t get - then who was he to interfere? If there was one thing his life had taught him, it was to roll with the punches, so roll he would.

"Right then, we split them in half, yeah? I’ll take the west half of the city, and you two can have the east half. I’m gonna go and start loading the SUV; I’ll probably head out a bit earlier just to be safe," Jake finally said with a cheerful smile. "Enjoy your time with the family, Ianto; give the rugrats a kiss for me, and tell that lout of a brother-in-law he still owes me twenty quid on the Man U game he bet me on."

"At least you didn’t take his odds that he kiss your ass if they won," Ianto chuckled before growing serious. "If you find something, call me; I’ll only be fifteen away, and we don’t want to hear that you got mugged by a butterfly."

"Knowing Jake, he might like it," Ross snickered.

"Not bloody likely!" Jake retorted, smacking Ross upside the head. "And thanks for the offer, Ianto, but I’ve been taking care of myself longer than I care to admit. I’m not gonna get done in by a butterfly. _But_ ," he continued as his friend and team lead was about to open his mouth, "if I do find myself in a situation I can’t handle, I will give you a shout. Okay?"

"Do that, or I’ll have to kick your cold, dead arse around the park a few times," Ianto commented.

"And then you’d leave me to pick it up," Tom grumbled.

"Oi, no picking me up when I’m dead and can’t enjoy it," Jake shot back with a cheeky grin then loped out of the room before Tom could get half out of his chair to retaliate.

"No matter how much we see, how much he’s seen, he’s still a bloody brat, isn’t he?" Tom groused good-naturedly. "God help the poor bastard he settles on, having all that attention focused on him," the doctor said with a shake of his head as he stood.

"Well, I’d best go round up my partner and let him know we’ll be working together tonight. Don’t worry, Ianto, I won’t let Harkness die no matter how invincible the good captain would like us to think he is."

"If you do, you can explain it to Rose and Doc," Ianto laughed, "and don’t forget to watch your own back; I’m not having Martha come after me!"

After Tom left, Ianto turned to Ross. "I won’t bother to tell you what you already know, but if something shows up, let me know."

"So Rhia can kick my arse for disturbing your family dinner?" the younger man groaned.

"Would you rather I kick it?"

"Good point," Ross grinned, "now go play Uncle Ianto, and spoil those kids, so she takes her ire out on you," he ordered his team lead, shooing him out of the office cum monitoring station so that Ianto could go get ready.

As he changed into civilian clothes and gathered up the presents he’d brought for his niece and nephew, Ianto switched gears mentally, putting aside the job with the same ease he would pick it up again at the end of the evening. After a final check with Ross, who simply yelled at him for bothering, Ianto headed out, whistling down a cab and giving the driver the address.

~*~*~

Two weeks later they were no closer to catching the killer butterflies though at least there had been no more deaths. Tom was on Rift duty, and the others were all asleep when the sudden sharp blare of the alarm sent them tumbling from their beds, throwing on clothes as they raced toward the monitoring room, almost colliding with Harkness as he barreled down the stairs.

"Big spike," Tom explained before anyone could ask. "Near where the initial pattern started."

"Right, gear up and let’s get out there; we can monitor the status as we go, nip this in the bud," Ianto announced before looking over at Jack. "If that’s all right, boss," the last was thrown in coolly.

Jack sighed and cursed inwardly. Donna was one hell of an assistant, but that mouth of hers was going to be the death of _him_. "I told you before, Jones, this is a field op; we’re in the field; and you’re lead field agent. I haven’t even signed a contract yet, so guess what, you’re still in charge," Jack replied stiffly.

"However, if it makes it easier for you, I’m staying here to monitor the Rift. Go and be big damned Alpha team heroes or whatever it is you do. I have paperwork to take care of." With that Jack spun on his heel and stalked from the room, making a bee line for his room and the files that were waiting there for him in the small office area he’d set up there, the door slamming shut behind him.

He wanted to go. Fuck, he wanted to go so badly he ached, but he didn’t need the attitude either. So they could handle it themselves, and he’d stay here and stay out of it. Forcing himself into one of the club chairs in the small sitting area of the room, Jack grabbed the first folder off the top of a box of files Rose had sent up for him to familiarize himself with and determinedly ignored anything going on outside his door, no matter how much his instincts were screaming at him to be involved.

"Ianto..." Jake began, making the other man curse.

"Fine, I get it, handle it." He stomped after Harkness, rapping firmly on the door to Jack’s room and ignoring the loud ‘go away’ he heard from inside.

"Ross is staying here to monitor the readings; he can feed us the info we need, so it looks as if we need a fourth, and it looks as if you need some field time. We’re leaving in five."

"Don’t do me any favors, Jones," Jack growled. "You and your team are quite capable of handling things without me, and we both know it."

Why did it bother him so much, the fact that Jones had done a Jekyll and Hyde just because he’d found out about Jack’s promotion? Rank and position had never mattered to Jack; titles were just that – titles – and ultimately unimportant in the grand scheme of things. That’s how it had been with his team… but this wasn’t his team any more than it was his world, really. He was the outsider. End of story.

And yet… the cool looks and frosty tone of voice that Jones had been using on him still bothered him more than he either liked or wanted to admit. Fuck, how had the arrogant son of a bitch gotten under his skin so fast? It was like he was in cosmic freefall and heading straight for a gravity well; he could no more resist Jones’ gravitational pull than he could the black hole. And the end would probably be exactly the same – he’d be completely destroyed and be forced to rebuild himself millimeter by painful millimeter thanks to his particular affliction. What was it about Ianto Jones that Jack felt the unerring pull towards the man time and again, no matter what the universe nor what the previous outcomes had been?

"You’ve made nice; I’ve turned you down. You’re relieved of the burden of playing nice. Now don’t you have some alien to hunt?"

Fed up with talking to the other man through the door, Ianto pushed it open and lounged in the doorway. "I don’t make nice, Harkness; I state facts. Now are you coming, or do you want to sit and wallow? You say you want to see what the team can do; this promises to be more active than this damn butterfly hunt we’ve been on."

"That depends," Jack replied after a moment. "You gonna keep acting like a complete dick just because I let Rose and Doc talk me into doing a job I’m damned good at? Oh, and let’s not forget the whole treating me like a damsel in distress thing, either - that definitely has to stop," he continued, watching Jones for a reaction.

"That depends," Ianto said easily, "you going to let us find out important news through the gossip chain rather than from the source?"

"I had my reasons this time," Jack replied honestly, if evasively. "But in the future, no, you’ll hear it from me first. Good enough?"

Ianto nodded at that. "Good enough. Now are you coming with us or staying back with the paperwork?"

Jack knew he should stay out of it, let the Wild Boys do their thing and pull back; after all he was trying to change the path of his life and all that shit but... "I fucking hate paperwork - always have. Let’s go," Jack grinned, grabbing his coat from the stand and ushering Jones out ahead of him.


	10. Chapter 10

"All right, Ross says the signal’s gone, but we have a fix on the location," Ianto reported as the black SUV careened through the blackness of the park, Jake’s expert handling skidding it to a stop as close to the signal’s location as they could get. "Everyone have Doc’s bug spray?" At the affirmative nods all around, Ianto continued. "Strike force pattern – Harkness, that means you stay near Tom and try not to get eaten by our bug."

"Yes, Mom," Jack replied dryly as he rolled his eyes. This caused both Tom and Jake to smother their chuckles to avoid being glared at by their team lead.

Jack acknowledged that the care and concern Jones gave to his team kept them alive in situations that would have gotten most people killed, but Jack wasn’t most people, and he was getting tired of having to reiterate the point over and over. However, he’d placed Jones in charge, so he’d follow the man’s orders to the letter. "No getting eaten by bugs - got it. Any other instructions before we go?"

"Stay out of Jake’s way if he targets it," Ianto sighed, wondering if bringing Harkness along had been such a good idea after all. What was done was done, however, and he just had to make sure all of them returned alive and well, hopefully with their target bagged.

The quartet started into the woods, moving as silently as possible, zeroing in on the coordinates that Ross had supplied but knowing the target most likely had moved. Jake was in the lead with Ianto ranging off to the left and Tom and Jack to the right.

"Nothing so far," Jake murmured into his com patch. "Damn bugs, I wish someone would just – " His voice broke off as a large dark form rose from behind a bush catching him by the right arm. He grabbed for his pistol with his left, getting a shot off even as the form swung him around, slamming him headfirst into a tree, the low, hollow noise audible to the others who were converging on his position.

Ianto cursed violently under his breath as they lost contact with Jake, and sprinted toward him, moments later, he skidded to a halt next to his friend’s body, seeing that Tom was already crouched over him with Harkness standing guard.

"He’s alive," Tom reported tersely as he dug in his pack for equipment and spoke to Ross, having him dispatch an ambulance to their location.

Ianto nodded sharply, fixing his gaze on Harkness. "Stay here; Tom can’t work on Jake and guard them," he ordered before taking off, following the faint scuffed path in the leaves that Jake’s attacker had left.

"Jones! Son of a bitch!" Jack cursed. "He doesn’t have anyone watching his own back. Does he do this often?" he asked the team medic, already knowing the answer to the question. "Tells me not to get eaten then takes off by himself. Fucking son of a bitch!"

Doing something that he was always extremely loath to do, Jack quickly undid his wrist strap and after hitting a few buttons, laid it on the ground next to Tom. Jack touched Jake’s shoulder lightly as he straightened up, murmuring. "Hang in there, gorgeous, Tom will have you patched up in no time. Your boss may not be so lucky though."

Turning to Tom, Jack gave a quick explanation. "It tracks life signs too. It’s showing us in a cluster, Jones by himself and something else just ahead of him on the path. It will pick up any life signs in the area and alert you to their approach. Jones needs back up."

"Agreed. Now go, let me work on my patient," Tom growled tersely, picking up the strap and placing it where he could see it and work on Jake at the same time. "Just don’t get yourself killed. Bad enough we have to break in one new boss; don’t want to have to break in another one if you die."

~*~*~

The night was silent around Ianto as he raced through the woods, a fact in and of itself that would have told him something was seriously wrong around him. He saw a flicker of movement ahead of him and plastered himself behind a tree as a spear of dark fire whipped through the air where he had just been. "Who the fuck is this guy?" he growled to himself even as he whirled at a slight noise, his drawn gun ending up in Harkness’ face.

"I told you to stay with Tom, you fuckwit!" he growled nearly silently.

Eyebrow going up at the expletive, Jack mouthed more than spoke his reply. "You needed someone to cover your back, and Milligan didn’t need me getting in the way. Don’t worry, I didn’t leave him vulnerable," Jack quickly assured Jones, holding up his arm and letting Jones see his wrist, now bare of it’s always present wrist strap. "Handy little thing, tracks life signs and acts as an early warning system if programmed to, which I’ve done. He’ll be able to work on Jake without having to watch his back. Now what’ve we got?"

"Humanoid with an unknown energy weapon," Ianto reported tersely even as he risked a peek around the tree.

"Nothing in the way of attempted communication?" Jack murmured, wishing futilely for one of the Doctor’s handy dandy little translator devices or some other alien toy. "And no visual either? Well, we’re going to have to rectify that. Okay, on the count of five I’ll draw fire, and you see if you can get a look and a shot off - try get it before it gets me if you can; I really don’t want to damage this coat. Ready? And five," Jack said, darting out into the open.

Okay, so he didn’t exactly play fair, but he already knew Jones would protest and try to stop him. This way he not only prevented an argument but gave Jones the chance to get the shot. The tree just to the left of him suddenly exploded into match sticks. "Shit! Judoon blaster, not good!" he muttered as he dove for cover.

"God damn it, Harkness!" Ianto shouted as he spun out from behind the tree, opening fire at the shadowed form that was the source of the energy blasts. The moment that he started to fire, the other shots stopped, and the figure vanished again, causing him to curse viciously.

"Did you get him?" Jack asked, picking himself up off the dirt and extricating himself from the bushes he’d landed in, all the while sweeping the vicinity for signs of movement. "At least say you got a look at him. I doubt it’s a Judoon - they’re intergalactic cops and wouldn’t fire on civilians unless certain of their guilt."

"Don’t think so, no sign of it." Ianto jogged back toward the other man, glowering at him as he neared. "And what the fuck was that about?"

"I thought it would be kind of obvious," Jack replied, dusting his coat off. "We didn’t know where it was; you couldn’t get a clear shot; and we needed more information, not that we got the last - other than the fact that it’s using a Judoon weapon - or something very similar. Do you have Judoon here, I wonder?"

"No clue, things were quiet for the most part until Rose jaunted off to save your universe; Doc says what the Daleks did tore something open in our Rift, made Earth here more visible to the rest of the universe, so things have been busier over the past couple of years."

"Makes sense. Those damned things have a way of screwing up everyone’s life no matter if you kick their collective ass or not," Jack sighed. "As for the Judoon - we really don’t want them here, trust me on this. They see everything in black and white. My universe’s Martha Jones ended up the Doctor’s companion because of them - they transported her hospital from the Earth to the Moon just to catch a criminal they were after and weren’t going to put the hospital back when they were done - collateral damage was perfectly acceptable."

"So the question is, how the hell did this person get a hold of that weapon?" Ianto’s lips pursed together in a thin line as he scanned the darkness around them before looking back over his shoulder as the faint sound of sirens grew louder. "He can wait; we need to get Jake to the hospital."

"I wonder if Doc has something we can use to see the echoes of what happened tonight," Jack mused even as he hit his communications patch. "Milligan, how’s Jake doing?"

"Concussed, possible head and neck trauma, awake but disoriented," Tom replied tersely. "I’m worried about possible fractures, and it’s a bitch trying to keep him still. How soon can you be back here?"

Jack shot Jones a glance and then broke into a fast jog, knowing that the younger man would be right next to him. "On our way now. Hit his com patch for me, will ya?"

There was a short pause, and then Tom replied. "Done, he can hear you now."

"Hear who?" came Jake’s voice, sounding thin and slurred.

"Hey, gorgeous," Jack murmured, knowing that Jenkins and Milligan could hear through the patches while Jones had the benefit hearing it in stereo thanks to being right next to Jack as they beat a trail through the park.

"Hey, Jack, or should I call you sex machine?" Jake snickered.

"Jack works just fine. I need you to do something for me, okay? Lie still and don’t give poor Milligan a heart attack every time you twitch. I wouldn’t want to have to explain to Dr. Jones why her fiancé had keeled over."

"Point," Jake admitted. "She can be downright scary when she wants to be."

"And she knows her way around medical instruments too – not a good combination. Jones and I are on our way back, so just hang tight, and try to be good."

"Will I get a reward if I do?"

"Whatever you want," Jack promised. "Within reason, that is."

"Mmmmm, forty-eight hours leave; you, me and a bottle of that scotch you like. We can do body shots."

"I think that can be arranged," Jack laughed quietly. "But you gotta earn it. So stay still."

"Yes sir, Captain Boss sir!"

"Tom," Ianto said, cutting into the banter, "do you see anything other than the four of us on that life signs reader Harkness left?"

"All clear," the doctor reported. "Whatever it was, it’s gone now."

"And running around loose," Ianto muttered to himself as they reached the area where Jake lay, Tom crouched beside him, holding a blood-stained compress against the side of his head.

"Anything for some time off," he sighed, squatting down beside the other pair and shaking his head, though he was frowning as he took in the unevenness of Jake’s pupils.

Jack crouched down next to Jake and touched his shoulder, taking the younger man’s hand when it automatically came up and kissing his fingers lightly. "Good thing you’ve got one of the hardest heads I’ve ever seen, including mine," he teased Jake lightly, even as his eyes worriedly shot to Tom’s grim expression and then up to Jones before returning to Jake.

"Think I’m going to offer to help Doc get that head armor up and running as soon as possible though; I’d rather not have anyone else die under my command if it’s all the same to you."

"Not dead, just slightly loopy," Jake replied, patting Jack’s hand with his fingers. "Now who’s playing mother hen?"

"You’re always loopy, Simmonds, so how can we tell the difference?" Tom commented as he gave Jack back his wrist strap. "Handy thing, that life signs scanner. You think you can convince Doc to incorporate something similar into our armor?"

"It’s already been put on my new to-do list, right under the head gear," Jack replied, his mouth a set line.

The ambulance pulled up moments later, and the paramedics loaded Jake into the back as Jack came to stand by Jones, watching.

"Give me the keys to the SUV," he ordered quietly. "Go with your teammate, your friend. I’ll head back to the Hub and get started on things, relieve Ross so he can meet you at the hospital if he wants."

Ianto started to argue but then simply nodded tightly. "We’ll let you know when we get updates," he said, glancing over at Jack as he spoke. "Be careful getting out of here; who knows where that thing went."

"Just take care of Jake, okay? I’ll be fine," Jack replied gruffly, staring out into the night. "Tell the paramedics to get Dr. Harper on standby. He’s… he was _my_ team medic. You can trust him to do a good job." Jack didn’t bother to wait for an answer. Without so much as a backward glance he headed to the safety of the SUV and the almost alien sterility of this Hub.

Ianto looked after him, his brows etched together in a frown before he turned and headed for the front of the ambulance, crowding in as Tom rode in back with Jake and the paramedic. The ambulance tore through the night, arriving at St. Helen’s Hospital. Ianto stood back out of the way as they wheeled the stretcher bearing Jake inside, Tom and the crew going along with it while he watched.

"Right then, what do we have here?" came the calm and slightly sarcastic question from a man dressed in hospital scrubs. "And why is it that whenever I work a night shift, I get someone from bloody Torchwood?" Dr. Owen Harper asked of no one in particular.

"Let’s see, patient, male, Simmonds, Jake. Age: twenty-eight, severe blunt force trauma to the head. Got smacked into a tree, I see. Treating physician a Dr. Milligan, Torchwood. Right then, how many finge…" Owen’s monologue was cut short as he looked down into the most gorgeous pair of green eyes he’d ever seen. "How many fingers, darling?"

"Urmmm… three?" Jake guessed, unable to focus on either the fingers or the man who held them up.

"That’s normal for him," Tom commented before rattling off Jake’s vitals and what he’d observed since Jake had been injured. "Laceration to the right temple, looks as if it’s going to need stitches," he concluded, furrows creasing his forehead as he watched the lean, sharp-featured man studying Jake.

"I’ll take good care of him," Owen promised, waving a couple of orderlies over. "You won’t even have a scar when I’m done," he promised the disoriented man on the stretcher. "But with head trauma you can never be too careful. I’ll want him to stay for a full battery of tests and for observation. Waiting room’s through there; don’t worry, I’m the best A&E doctor in Cardiff; he’ll be fine."

"No lack of ego in that one, eh," Tom murmured as soon as Dr. Harper was out of earshot. "Just because he was Jack’s medic in his universe doesn’t mean he’s that good here. So why, exactly, are we trusting him with our Jake again?"

"Because, we have two unknown aliens out there that have to be stopped," Ianto said, his voice hardening in the cool tone of command as he watched Harper walk off alongside Jake’s stretcher.

"Right, I’ll stay here to answer any questions and monitor Jake’s progress if you want to get back to the Hub?" Tom offered. "Might give me a chance to see if the morgue’s received any more John Does dead under suspicious circumstances that our search and monitoring programs haven’t red flagged."

"Jake’s in good hands; we all need to be out working on this," Ianto said firmly. "They know where to get in touch with us if they need to, and right now we need to have as many hands in the field as possible."

"Ianto…" Tom began, but the set look of his team lead’s jaw was all the warning he needed that this was not up for debate. "Right. Just let me leave my personal cell number so they can get in touch with me ASAP instead of having to go through dispatch and then being routed to our patches. If it’s something serious, time may be of the essence. Are we catching a cab or hoofing it back to HQ?"

Ianto cursed under his breath, having forgotten that Harkness had taken the SUV back to the Hub. "Fuckwit," he muttered to himself before rubbing his temples. "Right, no transpo. Go do what you need to with the staff, and I’ll watch for Ross; won’t be long before he’s here."

"Right just… go easy on Harkness when we get back, okay? He looked… off kilter," Tom murmured before heading off to give the duty nurse his information.

"Not his fault, was it?" Ianto muttered to himself as he walked toward the exit, watching for the black SUV and listening to Ross’ updates as he drew closer.

"So how’s Jake doing?" Ross asked through the window before the car was even in park when he pulled up a few moments later. "Oh and Harkness has been busy; we’re getting some special equipment of Doc’s flown up by military chopper, should be here in an hour or so. Didn’t say what it was, just that it would help us get an idea of our new bad guy."

"Head as hard as cinder blocks," Tom grinned as he climbed into the back seat, letting Ianto ride shotgun. "And already turning on the charm to flirt with his attending. Poor bastard doesn’t stand a chance. He’s got a concussion, lacerations that will require stitching, and is being kept for observation. But he’ll live."

"Thank fuck for that. Harkness was a little bit… intimidating… when he came storming in earlier," Ross admitted. "Couldn’t get out of there fast enough to get you lot. Remind me not to piss him off, okay? I think I’ll take being Doc’s lab rat to being on Harkness’s shit list."

~*~*~

"It’s called a Quantum Transducer. It came through the Rift from who knows where. It was in the vaults at Torchwood waiting to be catalogued. Luckily I gave a good enough description of it that Doc recognized it immediately," Jack informed the three men on the opposite side of the desk, who were staring at the alien tech as if it would spring to life at any moment.

"It uses nanotechnology to convert the quantum traces of emotional events into a form that allows humans to mentally experience them. When it’s activated, it can show the person holding it an emotional event from the past," he continued, leaving out its other traits completely. The future wasn’t set, and all this thing could do was show them possible events. That was why Jack intended to use it to recreate the past only. "The added bonus is that the Transducer will also show let me see the thoughts of the people in the event – namely our not so little alien friend. I should be able to get a good look at him as well as get an idea of what his intentions are – provided he speaks a dialect I’m familiar with."

"And it’s safe?" Ianto asked, reaching out to pick up and examine what looked like a game system controller.

"It’s not dangerous in the conventional sense of the word, no," Jack answered, taking it back from Jones as soon as he could. "But it’s not something I recommend you play with. It has a side effect or two that, if you’re not prepared for it, can be more of a hindrance than a help. However, I’ve dealt with this thing before and know how to work it. I just need someone to watch my back when I go back to the park because I’ll probably be in a trance-like state – easy target for killer butterflies and other things."

"In other words, no, it isn’t particularly safe."

"But if it gives us intel..." Ross began before shrugging and falling silent. Wasn’t his call and it was obvious that Harkness had already made up his mind. Ross couldn’t fault the man for his decision, though. It was made sense - recreate the event and maybe catch a break at stopping whatever it was that was roaming Cardiff’s streets.

"It’ll do that," Jack replied grimly. "I want to know what was hunting us tonight, and I want it stopped before anyone else gets hurt!"

"All right, so it’s back to the park then," Ianto stated, glancing at his watch. "I’ll go with Harkness; the sun’ll be up soon, and we know the butterflies don’t move during the day, so that cuts down on the issues. Ross, let us know if the Rift spikes; Tom, do the same with Jake’s condition."

"Then let’s get this show on the road." Pocketing the transducer, Jack stood and shrugged into his coat. Fishing into his pocket, he pulled out a set of keys. "Yours, I believe," he half smiled, tossing them to Jones, who caught them easily as they walked toward the garage and climbed into the SUV.

"He’ll be fine," Ianto said as they drove through the streets of Cardiff, the just rising sun slowly lightening the buildings around them. "Jake’s got a hard head, and that bloke Harper seems to know his stuff."

Jack stared out the window of the SUV at the pre-dawn Cardiff streets that were so eerily the same to him. "He does. I looked him up when I got here a week ago. Said I was interviewing him for a medical journal," he finally answered. "I just wanted to see what kind of a man he was here, and he’s a damned good doctor. I wouldn’t have told you to ask for him otherwise. I wouldn’t trust anyone under me to an incompetent doctor, let alone someone I consider a friend as well as a colleague.

"As for Jake, I can’t think otherwise than that he’ll be all right," Jack paused and then continued bleakly. "I know I’ll have to watch all of you die eventually, even Doc, but not yet. Not for a long time, I hope."

"There’s always someone left behind," Ianto murmured before giving a rough laugh. "But those who stay behind are the ones who remember, and that keeps the ones who are gone alive as well."

Jack’s laugh was bitter and tinged with great sorrow. "But sooner or later memories fade. I’ve forgotten more of my friends and lovers than you could possibly imagine. But there’s one I won’t. Even when the Earth is nothing more than cosmic dust and humans are nothing more than fairy tales told to children on distant worlds, I’ll remember."

It was obvious who Jack was talking about, and Ianto nodded, remaining silent as he drove, the brightening sunlight at odds with Harkness’ mood.

The park came mercifully into view, giving Jack something else to think about, namely finding out what had attacked them in the park. "Like I said back at the Hub, it will look like I’ve gone into a trance. I won’t be able to hear you since I’ll be stuck in the memory, so if you need to, tackle me."

"Gotcha," Ianto agreed, looking as if he was willing to take Jack looking distracted as provocation. "How long does it take to get started?" That was asked as he parked and they got out of the SUV.

"It depends on how disciplined the mind is that’s using it and the strength of the emotions in the memory," Jack admitted. "I was… upset with Jake’s injury. I don’t know what you were feeling or what our hostile was, but I’m hoping based on the strength of my emotions, at least, we’ll have enough to pull me in fast."

Ianto frowned at this additional information. "Wait a minute; I thought it only let you feel what the alien was feeling?"

"And how is it supposed to pinpoint one specific emotion when it doesn’t know who to pinpoint?" Jack asked reasonably. "No, it reads all the emotions in the immediate vicinity. It usually shows the viewer, which would be me, the perspective of the strongest emotion in the area."

About to snap back, Ianto realized that he was reacting this way because he was still angry with himself over Jake getting injured, and he forced himself to take a calming breath. "All right, that makes sense. Is the viewing real time or sped up? Just so I know how long to let you go."

Jack thought back to the few times he’d witnessed the device being used by Owen and Gwen. "A combination of the two, I believe," he said finally as they walked towards the spot where they’d encountered the alien. "Not long enough for the real memory but not like a data burst either."

"So if you aren’t out of it in five, I’ll wake you," Ianto stated as they reached the spot, forcing himself to look at the pale spot on the tree where Jake’s collision with it had scraped away the bark.

"I’m not really sure if you can wake me up," Jack admitted slowly, staring resolutely forward as he strode a few steps past the tree of Jake’s encounter with the entity. "Gwen and Owen came out of it on their own as did the civilians we traced the tech to. After Ed committed suicide because of his vision, I had both halves locked up with a do not use order attached to it, so the device’s potential was never explored.

"Right then. Don’t let me get eaten by bugs, will ya?" That said, Jack took off his wrist strap and tossed it to Jones. "Life signs detector is already activated – it operates like sonar. We’re the blue dots, you because you’re holding it and me because it’s calibrated to my DNA. Anything moving towards us is red. Got it?"

"Blue good, red, blast it, I think I can handle that," Ianto said dryly.

"Red doesn’t necessarily mean hostile alien, Jones," Jack chuckled. "It simply means another life form. You may want to check before you shoot the park horticulturalist."

"Go watch your peep show, Harkness; I have it under control."

"Not exactly my idea of a peep show," Jack commented. "Now if I were getting to watch something a little more titillating, that would be a different story." Rocking his neck back and forth to release some tension and hearing the bones crack, Jack pulled the alien device from his greatcoat pocket, hit the buttons and let himself get sucked back into the memory of Jake getting injured and Jones and he being fired upon by the hostile.


	11. Chapter 11

Ianto could tell the instant the device began to work as Jack froze, his gaze focused in the distance. He glanced at his watch and set the timer for five minutes, not willing to allow Harkness even a second over the limit. He settled his weight evenly on both feet, one hand near his sidearm, and waited, not envying Harkness having to relive the night’s events.

The device bore Jack’s mind back to the events of the night before and trapped him in the role of ghostly observer as he was once again made to watch a bipedal, lizard-like creature throw Jake into a tree and then dart into the undergrowth, its skin shifting to blend with its surroundings. A chameleon creature – great, that would make it so much easier to track. Jack raced to follow the creature, thankful that he was familiar with the events and could divorce himself from the team hovering around Jake before Jones took off with Jack following a short time later. It allowed him to be in the perfect position to watch the creature very calmly stop, position himself and lie in wait for Jones.

Jack was already dealing with the echoes of his self-directed anger and guilt at being responsible for causing injury to yet another person he cared for, so he was almost blindsided by the fresh wave of rage that inundated him as he watched Jones duck for cover while a tree exploded from the energy discharge. A new sort of anger crept into the equation – colder and more distant but equally intense – it was tinged with irritation, as he observed himself joining Jones in his defensible position. Disbelief, shock and an increase in that anger washed over Jack as he observed their quick conversation followed by him darting out into the open in order to draw the alien’s fire and give Jones the opportunity to take the thing out.

In hindsight Jack knew he’d been too busy concentrating on not getting vaporized by the Judoon weapon to feel that kind of hostility towards their newest Rift transplant, which meant that the emotion had to have come from another source. Turning from the sight of himself as he dove into the bushes, Jack watched Jones open fire on the alien position, his expression one of concerned fury… for Jack’s safety?

And then he heard Jones’ mental voice as clearly as if he’d spoken. "Fuckwit, fuckwit, fuckwit!" Guilt, anger, and focused intent all weighed down on him before morphing into relief as Jack watched himself get up off the ground and noted how closely Jones looked him over even as he was checking the area around him for the creature that had already slipped away into the night.

Well, didn’t that just make things a helluva lot more complicated than they’d been not five minutes ago? Jack thought to himself as the memory began to wind down. As if from a great distance Jack could hear Jones calling out to him, and he knew that his time was up. "Harkness? Almost five minutes, Harkness. You have ten seconds, and then I’m taking your ass down." Color began to seep into the black and white surroundings of Jack’s memories, and night bled into day as he was slowly released from the machine’s grip just in time to have Jones tackle him to the ground.

"What the hell?!"

"You were over the limit," Ianto explained unrepentantly even as he rolled off Jack and to his feet, offering the older man a hand up. "Did you learn anything?"

"Bipedal lizard-like creature with a very annoying chameleon-like ability to blend in," Jack replied after taking a moment to shake off the aftereffects of the vision. "It’s a fucking exterminator; we’re just collateral damage. It wants the bugs and it’ll take down anything or anyone that gets in its way." Of course that wasn’t all that Jack had learnt, but he wasn’t quite sure what to make of what he’d been shown of Jones’s reaction and the warm feeling that seemed to be centered in the vicinity of his heart as he’d witnessed the concern.

"A fucking exterminator?" Ianto demanded, staring at Jack. "And one that blends into the environment, we’re fucked." He turned, staring at the park around them, his mouth set in a thin line. "That’s our priority now; the butterflies are nocturnal; who knows what the new one is. We get rid of it, then we get the rest of the bugs."

"First things first, we need sleep," Jack countermanded firmly. "Your team’s been going for almost twenty-four hours straight, Jones. And before you argue, we’ve got time. If it’s hunting our bugs and they only come out at night, chances are it’s taking the opportunity to rest now too. We can sleep in shifts and have someone constantly monitor chatter and Rift activity if it makes you feel better, but you need to rest."

"I really hate it when you make sense," Ianto sighed, rubbing a hand over the back of his neck.

"Get used to it," Jack replied with a small laugh. "I usually do. C’mon, Jones, it’s time for all good little Wild Boys to be in bed. I’ll take first shift."

"Should I start calling you ‘Daddy’?" Ianto asked dryly as they reached the SUV and climbed inside.

"Considering your den mother tendencies, that would be a little disturbing. Does that make Jake, Ross and Tom our kids?"

"Good thing they got my looks," Ianto shot back, feeling some of the tension that had gripped him since Jake had been injured and Harkness tried to get himself killed ease with their banter.

"Your personality too, well, Ross did at least. He embodies piss and vinegar – just like mummy," Jack rejoined with an easy laugh. He’d learned to compartmentalize things a very long time ago, and now that he had a clear course of action he could focus on, next steps, so this… this quipping was as easy and as effortless as breathing.

"Of course, you realize that means you’re fucking your son," Ianto chuckled as he backed the SUV away from the curb, heading back to the Hub. "Kinky, even for our Jake."

"Well, it’s not like he can procreate," Jack grinned. "Besides, he may change his mind after I have a talk with him. While I’ve never understood why people tend to frown on hooking up with the people you work with, I think I’m going to have to set a few ground rules for this, whatever it is, with him. Then again, he could get a kick out of sleeping with the boss – which again, I don’t get. A title is just words on a paper; it means nothing beyond keeping the President and politicians happy. I’ve never run my division that way – we were too small to be anything other than a cohesive unit. I was just the front line of defense, and I caught all the flack from the higher ups, something I had no problem doing. So this whole ‘don’t sleep with the boss’ mentality doesn’t apply, not to me anyway.

"That being said, I guess you’ve finally got me toeing the line, Jones, because that whole no sex while on active duty in Cardiff? It’s going to become a permanent one. It’s going to be strange though; I was used to having free range of the Hub. Played many a game of naked hide and go seek after hours. The greenhouse was especially… inspiring," Jack smiled softly at the memory which was, surprisingly, more bittersweet than agonizing. He could actually breathe and remember. It was happening more and more.

"Hunh," he said after a moment. "I have a feeling there’s an ‘I told you so’ in my future from Doc and Rose. It’s kind of aggravating how often they’re right."

"Glad to hear it," Ianto answered, wondering what epiphany Harkness had come to. "And I never said I was against sleeping with people you work with, have done it quite a few times myself."

"Ah, so it was just my fucking Jake stupid then," Jack replied knowingly. "Well, like I said, you may not have to worry about that much longer."

"It was the stupid part – going out in the field hopped up on endorphins and loopy is a sure way to end up dead – and what do you mean by that? What have you got planned?"

"Well, Jake may not like the new rules. It’s not as if either of us is emotionally invested beyond being friends as well as fuck buddies. He helped me rediscover the desire to keep living, and I taught him a thing or two about many things. I knew he was sleeping with other people too, and I had no problem with that. If I had to choose between having Jake as a friend and teammate and as a lover, the choice is easy; lovers I can get without so much as batting an eye – friends are a lot harder for me to come by," Jack admitted.

"And he’s a good one; all the lads are," Ianto nodded, "and you’ve certainly won them all over."

"One team down, three to go," Jack muttered. "Gotta say though, I’m not used to running four teams. One was hard enough. This is going to be a challenge."

"Well, don’t offer to sleep with Bianca; she might get out her K-bar and relieve you of some bodily parts."

"Not even if she propositions me?" Jack retorted automatically before he could stop that. "Not that I’d take her up on it. I’d rather not set a precedent. I mean if I sleep with one team lead…"

"Anders might get jealous?" The question was asked with restrained amusement.

Jack laughed. "I think I’m looking forward to meeting this Anders. He sounds like just the kind of pompous ass I have the most fun with."

He was about to ask a question when Tom’s voice broke over their com patches. "Just got a call from Harper. Jake is resting comfortably; they’re following concussion procedures and waking him every half hour or so and waiting for the results of the CT scan and MRI they did on him. Harper will let us know the results as soon as he gets them. But he is guardedly confident that Jake suffered no permanent head trauma and he’ll be back to his normal self in a few weeks. He is recommending desk duty for at least a fortnight though, just to be on the safe side."

"Oh, Jake’s just going to _love_ that," Ianto sighed, though his voice held a large measure of relief at the update.

"If those are doctor’s orders, he’s following them," Jack replied firmly. "Thanks for that, Tom. Next time Harper calls, find out when he can have visitors, would you? Wait, scratch that." The Millennium Centre and the glass and steel structure that was the Hub came into view as they rounded the corner, and Jones hit the code to allow them into the underground parking. "I want you and Jenkins to hit your bunks. We’re just pulling in downstairs. I’ll mind the store while you three grab some sleep. I’ll talk to Harper myself."

"Will do," Tom acknowledged before signing off.

"So, how are you going to explain to Harper that the person interviewing him for a medical journal is now at Torchwood?" Ianto asked as he parked the SUV.

"I was conducting an investigation for Torchwood, and the answers he gave proved that he was human," Jack replied, the lie rolling off his tongue easily. "Had to make sure he wasn’t an alien sleeper agent. There would have been a minute hesitation as they translated the information they were provided."

"Mmmhmm," Ianto nodded before chuckling. "You are good, Harkness; I give you that."

"Been doing this for a long, long time. Some things have become second nature." Getting out of the passenger side of the car, Jack waited for the younger man to precede him up the stairs. "Get some sleep, Jones. Someone can relieve me in five hours; it should give them at least the minimal amount of rest to function properly. Sleep well," Jack finished as he turned and headed into the office, expecting Jones to continue up to the barracks, but instead, the younger man stopped in the doorway.

"I’d like to apologize," he said carefully. "For my behavior when we found out about your position."

"You were pissed, and you had reason to be. I should have been honest with you from the moment I decided to take the job." Jack took the Quantum Transducer and carefully placed it on the desk. His first task once the kids were all tucked into bed would be to send it back to John with a brief explanation of what he’d gone through. Next job would be to log his report.

Jack kept his back to Jones as he carefully stripped off his greatcoat and hung it up in the closet "However, I had my reasons. I promised you the truth from now on, so here it is. I wanted to make sure I could work with you, considering my past... relationship. I had to know that I could function, and I’m sorry if it put you and your team on the spot but…" Jack shrugged his shoulders and slid his hands into his pockets as he turned around.

"Good news is I can. You’re damned good at your job and an asset to Torchwood. Chances are, with a few more years seasoning, Rose and Doc would have been offering you the job had I not come along."

Ianto nodded, accepting the explanation for the truth he was sure it was, and then smirked. "You never know, a few more years and I still might come gunning for it. Let me know if you hear anything, would you?"

"You’re more than welcome to try," Jack’s grin was shark-like, "if you think you can take me. I’ll let you know if anything about Jake or anything _urgent_ crops up. Anything else I can handle. Good night, Jones."

Ianto turned but paused and looked back over his shoulder, giving a slight grin. "Don’t you mean good morning, Harkness?" he asked, raising a hand in farewell before he continued back toward the barracks, his steps now showing the drag of tiredness.

"Smart ass," Jack said loudly enough for the retreating man to hear him. "What have you gotten yourself into this time, Jack?" he muttered to himself as he rounded the desk and turned on the computer monitor to begin his reports.

~*~*~

"But I can monitor the Rift, Jack," Jake protested even as he yawned loudly. "I feel like I’m shirking."

Jack brought Jake’s hand up to his lips and kissed it softly. "Just heal, Jake. Those are your orders as given by the head of field ops. Got me? Besides, you’ve got great eye candy here," he teased as he noted the rather attractive orderly outside and, as if called by thought, Dr. Harper stopping in to check on his patient again. His Owen had never shown such bedside manner or dedication to his patients, which had Jack wondering if there was maybe something more to his impressive work ethic.

"I’m just leaving, Dr. Harper," Jack assured the other man. "I was simply reinforcing your orders with my own. Bed rest until your doctor releases you, understood?"

"Bollocks. No more wrapping you around my finger, eh?"

"I’m your boss now, sweetheart, so not a chance. Play nice for the good doctor. I promise that you’ll get updates on the investigation. Good day, Doctor." Jack walked out of Jake’s room and headed to the elevator at a fast pace. He still had one more report to write before he could get some shut eye – the incident report. He hadn’t wanted to until he’d read Jake’s chart and had spoken with him personally.

"Just a minute, Captain Harkness, I’d like a word!" Jack cursed under his breath – he’d almost made it.

"Of course, Doctor," he said pleasantly, turning to face Owen as he walked determinedly after Jack.

"My office is just in here." Owen indicated a set of doors that lead to the administrative wing. "I’d rather this be a private conversation if you don’t mind."

Jack’s eyebrow went up at that, but nonetheless he followed dutifully behind Owen and allowed himself to be ushered into a coldly clinical and incredibly utilitarian box of an office. God, how did people work in these things? It was little bigger than a prison cell and had about as much personality, Jack thought to himself in disgust.

Owen shut the door behind Jack and began to pace the small area next to the desk, collecting his thoughts. "You could have told me you were Torchwood instead of coming up with that cockamamie reporter story," Owen began.

"I was investigating the report that there might be an alien sleeper agent in the hospital. If you’d been one, you wouldn’t have been able to rattle off the information you did as effortlessly as you did. You knew the answers; the sleeper would have had minute pauses as their implant fed them the information which a lay person wouldn’t have noticed. A trained Torchwood operative, on the other hand," Jack replied, giving Harper the lie he’d constructed when asked the same question by Jones.

That gave Owen pause. "Okay, yeah, I guess I can see that," he admitted. "Bollocks, I was intent on giving you a proper reaming for that stunt."

"How about you just come out and ask me what you really want to," Jack suggested kindly as the proverbial penny dropped. The last time he’d seen this side of Owen Harper, it had been over the female pilot who’d been lost in time - Diane. Harper was smitten. "In fact, let me make this simple. Jake and I have sex and are friends. That being said, I have a feeling that if the right person showed the right kind of interest, he’d find himself in the enviable position of having Mr. Simmonds’ undivided attention. He and I? We’re fuck buddies, nothing more. And as I told someone earlier, if I had to choose, I’ll take the friendship over the sex. Does that answer your question?"

"Bloody buggering bollocks," Owen murmured faintly, stopping his pacing and collapsing into his chair in order to stare at Jack in shock. "How did you…"

"I have exceptional powers of observation," Jack replied mildly, and the advantage of knowing another version of the good doctor. "Now if that’s all, Doctor? I have an investigation to run, and you have a patient to visit."


	12. Chapter 12

"Any new developments?" Ianto asked over the radio as he left the hospital several days later, having checked up on Jake, who was grumbling about still being kept for observation – except when his treating physician was in the room. Whatever happened between his friend and Harper, Ianto hoped it went well, Jake deserved someone who would be devoted to him, and unfortunately neither he nor Harkness had been that man.

"All quiet so far, but it’s not night yet," Ross reported back. They’d been patrolling nightly, trying to track down both the butterflies and the exterminator but so far had come up with nothing, and it was damn frustrating.

"Got that, I should be back within half an hour."

"See you then and pick up pizza."

By the time Ianto arrived back at the hub, carrying two boxes, the others were gathered in the monitoring room where Ross had managed to hook Harkness’ wrist strap into the detector, refining their search patterns to hopefully give them more information about their visitors.

"Pizza’s here, where’s the tip?" he demanded, setting the boxes on the table. "Jake wants to know when he can come and play; he’s tired of being under house arrest."

"Can’t say I blame him," Tom nodded. "But I can’t blame Harper for keeping him in hospital."

"Jake can come and play when Harper gives him the green light to be released and not a moment before," Jack replied firmly. "Besides, I think his grumble is more for show than anything else. He’s pursuing other leads while in the hospital. I hope for his sake they pan out."

"What leads?" Ross asked before his brain could tell him not to.

"Apparently he figures that Rose and Milligan shouldn’t be the only ones to land themselves a hot doctor," Jack chuckled. "God help us all."

Ross had just opened his mouth to speak when the Hub alarms started to blare as the wrist strap enhanced computer spiked. "Right, dinner will have to wait," Jack replied calmly. "Suit up. Ross, loop the Rift readings through my wrist strap. We’re a man down with at least two, possibly more, hostiles; we can’t afford to leave anyone behind. You’re in charge of field ops, Jones; other than the fact that all of us are going out, command is yours now."

"Right," Ianto said, nodding tightly. "Ross, bring the modified PDAs; they’re going to get a field test to see if they work like Harkness’ does. Tom, make sure we all have samples of that antivenin you’ve been working on –"

"It hasn’t been tested," Tom began, only to be cut off by his team lead.

"Doesn’t matter; if all else fails, we can try to inject the exterminator with it. Harkness – try not to go jumping in front of the gunfire, okay?" The last was offered with a tight smile. "Armor and ammo, people, and at the SUV in two."

They scattered, meeting at the SUV, and sped out into the night, screeching into the park before going lights dark as Ianto drove at a slower speed, trying to minimize their noise.

"Two major life signs," Ross reported as they pulled to a halt. "One at eleven o’clock, the other at two."

"For the moment, stick together," Ianto ordered. "We need to know just what we’re looking at."

Jack took up position between Jones and Tom with Ross on the other side of the doctor. "Best advice I can give is to watch for an area that looks a little off kilter. If the exterminator is moving, it will look out of sync with the background it’s blending with, but the lack of light will make it harder to spot - which is what it’s counting on. If it’s here and hunting, it means our bugs are probably in the area too, so keep your bug spray handy." Undoing the leather cover as he spoke, Jack hit a few buttons and quickly calibrated his life signs detector so that it registered the Wild Boys as green so that he wouldn’t make a mistake if he needed to fire on someone.

The four of them took off into the darkness, moving silently, guided by Ross and Jack. A small clearing opened up before them, and they crouched behind cover, watching for any kind of movement. The night was silent around them, and Ross spun. "Incoming!"

A large form swooped over them, then a second shadowy form blurred the air in front of them. Sharp pops sounded as the men aimed at both targets, only stopping when their aim was confounded by each other’s presence. The butterfly swooped in over them, and Tom turned to follow its path before falling flat as an energy beam scorched the air near him. When he surged upward, he saw Ross on the ground, the large butterfly they’d been tracking as the queen flapping into the air from his body to be torn by a blast from the exterminator.

"Jenkins is down," he reported, racing toward his friend, one hand scrabbling for the antivenin syringe even as he tilted Ross’ head back, searching frantically for a pulse or respiration, then slamming the syringe into the angry looking rash on Ross’ neck.

"Exterminator got the bug," Ianto said harshly, keeping his attention focused on the remaining alien. Catching movement out of the corner of his eye, he cursed, knowing what the cause was. Swiping his hand over the back of his neck, he pulled his armor disc off and lunged, slapped it on Harkness’ neck as the other man raced toward the exterminator.

Jack felt someone hit him in the back of the neck and a second later felt something cool, flexible and far too close fitting for his liking slide under his clothes and over his skin. "What the fuck? _Jones_!" he bellowed as he realized what the younger man had done. He was going to kill the stupid son of a bitch when he had the chance. One hand tried futilely to pull the disc off of his neck even as Jack lowered his shoulder and slammed into the lizard creature hard, sending them both to the ground, his need to take the son of a bitch out hard and fast increasing exponentially as his brain caught up with the rest of him.

With the fucking armor coating him like a bad rash, Jack was all too aware that Jones was now without it and vulnerable to attack. Jack’s heart stuttered to a halt at the thought of Jones getting injured or even killed because of his stupid den mother tendency to want to protect everyone, even those who didn’t need it – like Jack himself. Leave it to Jones to open himself up like that – fucking hero complex. Like hell Jack was going to let that happen. Like _hell_! Jack let the alien get the upper hand and roll him under its weight, leaving its back exposed and vulnerable.

"Take the shot!" he barked out, struggling to keep the lizard from taking a chunk out of his neck. Looking over its shoulder toward the younger man, Jack was incensed to see that he hadn’t moved. "Jones! You put this fucking thing on me, so use it to your advantage. Take the god damned shot! That’s an order!"

The lizard creature reared back to drive its teeth into Jack, and Ianto had the shot he’d been waiting for. In one smooth move he aimed and fired, the bullet taking the creature cleanly through the head, causing it to drop heavily down onto Harkness.

"I took the shot when I had it," he said coolly, stepping forward to help roll the body off of Jack, checking the other man over for injuries even as he listened to Tom’s terse update on Ross’ condition.

"Ambulance will be here in five; Ross is still breathing, looks like Tom’s antivenin worked."

Jack’s chest heaved, and his fists clenched as he tried to control the insane rage that threatened to boil over. What the hell had Jones been thinking? How could he have jeopardized his life like that? Didn’t the idiot understand how important he was to Jack’s sanity?

The thought was the douse of cold water that Jack needed. When the fuck had Jones come to mean so much to him? _Jesus_ , Jack thought in equal parts disbelief and horror, _It’s not enough that I’m insanely attracted to him; no, I have to go and start falling for him too._ Wasn’t losing Ianto enough torture? Was the universe such a cruel and capricious place that it would force Jack to go through it all again, to fall for and lose yet another Ianto Jones? Hadn’t he suffered enough?

"Good, great, fan-fucking-tastic!" Jack muttered, realizing that Jones was probably expecting an answer. "Get him to the hospital; have him checked out thoroughly. Let Simmonds know what’s going on while you’re there," he ordered. Jack needed to get out of here and sooner rather than later.

"We need to get the bug and the lizard covered up; don’t want the civilians seeing what’s been running around Cardiff. We’ll also have to make sure there aren’t any more bugs to procreate. We’ll have to call in a clean up team from London, but at this time of night they should be here in a couple of hours. I’ll wait for them then head back to the Hub. You take care of your team, Jones.

"But before you do, get this god damned thing _off_ of me!" Jack snarled, scratching at the armor disc still firmly attached to his neck, the armor still covering him from the base of his neck to the soles of his feet. It was a goad, a constant reminder of Jack’s internal revelations, and it made him frantic – filled him with the same intense panic that was usually reserved for being buried alive – made him want to claw the thing off even if it meant ripping it from his flesh in chunks.

Without a word, Ianto reached up and placed his fingers against the back of Jack’s neck, collecting the disc when the polymer resorbed into it. He glanced down at it, then set it back against his own neck, feeling the familiar slide as the armor coated his body. "Anything else?" he asked coolly, keeping a tight rein on his anger at Harkness’ reaction.

Jack let out a long breath of air, releasing the tension as best he could and trying to let go of cloying panic. He was being an ass, and he knew it. "No I..." he paused and gathered his thoughts."Take care of your friends, Jones; they need you now, and I can take care of the clean up. I’ll stop by the hospital as soon as I’m done to check in, but you don’t need to deal with this shit as well as with Ross being hurt." Jack would be damned if he’d apologize for being pissed about the armor stunt though, and just thinking about it had him gritting his teeth against the urge to start yelling at the younger man for being so pig-headedly stupid. Jones had warned him about the ‘den mother’ mentality of his, but tonight had taken it too far for Jack to ignore any more.

However, right now he had a job to do, and getting into a brawl at a scene with one of his team leads was not part of that job. Forcing his temper back down, Jack pushed up to his feet and made a bee line for Tom and Ross. "Good work on the antivenin, Milligan, that’s an impressive bit of medicine. How’s he doing?"

"Stable," Tom replied shortly, "but I want to run a full battery of tests on him to make sure it’s working, and I need a lab for that."

"Use the one at the hospital," Jack suggested. "That way you can stay close to your patient and work at the same time."

Tom nodded, his eyes on the readouts in the programs he’d pulled up on the medical scanner he carried. "I plan on it."

The rising sound of a siren cut through the night, and Ianto looked in its direction. "I’ll get them and bring them back here," he said, crouching down by Ross and resting a hand on his forehead, frowning at the clammy coolness of his skin. "Take care of him, Tommy," he murmured before standing and loping back toward the road where they’d parked the SUV.

"Bit harsh with him, don’t you think, sir?" Tom asked once Ianto was out of sight, "considering that armor probably saved your life."

Jack had to bite down on his cheek until he was sure he wouldn’t yell in frustration. "Let me ask you this, Milligan," he began in a carefully controlled tone of voice. "Have I ever lied about something truly important? More than that, have I ever played fast and loose with anyone’s life while knowing how dangerous this job is and how easy it is to die?"

"No sir," Tom replied immediately. Because while he’d lied about a few things and bent the truth on occasion to serve his purposes, the man from another universe had gone out of his way to make sure he took the risks that could get people killed rather than letting Alpha team do it.

"Another question – have either Rose or Doc ever lied or exaggerated about the big things – alien things?"

Again Tom was forced to admit that the answer was no.

"Then why the _hell_ would any of us lie about this? Why is it so hard for you people to believe that I can’t die, but you have no problem with the alien bipedal lizard _exterminator_ lying dead not five feet away, never mind the venomous alien butterfly that’s the size of a Cooper Mini. I just don’t get it!" Jack ground out, throwing his figurative hands up in surrender.

"I don’t want anyone else dying for me or because of me, and what Jones did tonight made that a very real and very terrifying possibility. I’m not letting him die on me too. No one else. Never again." With that Jack surged to his feet and stalked off towards the SUV, needing to do something with his hands or else he’d quite possibly go mad.

"Well shit," Tom muttered. "That went well."


	13. Chapter 13

Jack paced his room, incensed at the absolute stupidity of Alpha Team’s lead, his mind whirling like a dervish, and he was unable to stop it. Jack had stayed at the site long enough to supervise the clean up and then had PCs Gwen and Andy give him a ride back to the Hub, commandeering them from where they’d been acting as crowd control for a handful of night-owls and some story-hungry journalists. Four Cardiff Police units had been a serious case of overkill, at least as far as Jack was concerned.

If Jack hadn’t been trapped in the never ending loop of his own thoughts, he might have found it weird to downright uncomfortable to be in the back seat of the cruiser listening to Gwen talk about her upcoming nuptials to Mr. Rhys Williams and Andy teasing her about her ‘hen do’. However, all Jack had been able to focus on were the events that had transpired earlier and how he seemed to be doomed to repeat the same stupid, selfish mistakes of his life over and over and over again. Never mind the fact that this version of Ianto was an insanely competent leader, excellent marksman, and had been trained within an inch of his life for all sorts of situations, alien and otherwise, he was still _Ianto_ , and Jack seemed to have the need to protect and look out for Jones hardwired into his very being. But what had the stupid son of a bitch done? He’d exposed himself to danger without so much as a second thought while attempting to keep safe the one person on the fucking planet who didn’t have to worry about dying.

It was bad enough that Jack had failed Jake and Jenkins—that they were both in hospital because he hadn’t been good enough, smart enough, fast enough—but the very thought of losing Jones had Jack alternating between almost homicidal fury and hyperventilating from a panic attack to end all panic attacks. Why the fuck had Jones slapped his personal armor on Jack in the first place? Did this version have a death wish, or was he just suicidally stupid? "What part of can’t die doesn’t the fucking moron get?" Jack snarled, feeling trapped by fate, circumstances, his own insane emotions and by the universe at large. It was like being buried in ten tons of concrete, like being trapped in that fucking grave for centuries, dying and reviving in a never-ending cycle of torture and pain. Was this all he was ever going to be—a harbinger of death and destruction? Was he doomed to an eternity of pain and loss no matter how much he atoned or suffered for his past sins?

"Fuck it!" he muttered, tossing on the only armor he needed—his greatcoat—and grabbing his Webley. If he couldn’t sleep, he’d work out his fears and frustrations on the shooting range. Slamming out of his room, he made his way down to the subterranean level that housed the gym, armory and shooting range.

An hour and who knows how many expended bullets later, as Jack steadily worked his way through an assortment of weapons from light hand guns to semi automatics to the huge machine guns used to repel Cybermen and Daleks, he still wasn’t getting over it. If anything, he was getting more and more irate and panic-stricken by the second as his brain whirred, playing through one increasingly grisly scenario after another where Jones ended up dead—always dead. "Son of a bitch!" he snarled. "Stupid son of a bitch!"

"Now then, it wasn’t Ross’ fault he was bitten by a butterfly," Ianto mused from the doorway, having just returned from the hospital and gone in search of Harkness, who had vanished once again after they’d found out that Ross was going to live. "He’s stable, looks like shite, but he was grinning to beat the band when I left—Lisa showed up and was fussing over him. Jake’s still going on about Harper and complaining that his head hurts and that he wants to come home. Tom’s consulting with the staff at the hospital about that antivenin, and I’ve got a fuckload of reports to write up. Alpha team update complete… sir." The last was added with an almost insolent smirk.

"As much as I’m relieved to hear that Ross is going to be okay, I wasn’t referring to him," Jack snarled, all but throwing the high powered rifle to the weapons counter before wheeling to glare at the younger man. "I was referring to you! What the fuck was that, putting your armor on me? Were you trying to get yourself killed?"

"No, I was trying to keep you alive," Ianto snapped. "What kind of fuckwit are you, running into a hostile situation with no protection?!"

"What part of I. Can’t. _Die_! Don’t you get?" Jack yelled back at Jones, at his wit’s end to get through to the younger man. At this rate it would take Jack eating a bullet for Jones to get it through his far too thick skull!

"I don’t know, probably the same damn part of ‘you’re not going to get in that position around me’ that you ruddy well can’t understand!"

"You don’t believe it," Jack replied with patent disbelief. "I keep saying it; Rose and Doc have said it; and you’re just not buying it. God damned pig-headed Welshmen, I swear, you’re the bane of my existence at times," he muttered as he turned back to the weapons table and quickly surveyed his options.

"Well, if the mountain won’t come to Mohammed and all that," Jack sighed to himself as he picked up his handgun which was still loaded, safety off and bullet in the chamber. At least he’d taken his greatcoat off when he’d come down here, the last thing he wanted to do was put a bullet hole through it.

"Fuck, this is gonna hurt," he sighed to himself and then, before he could actually think about it, pressed the muzzle to his chest directly over his heart and pulled the trigger, dead before he even hit the ground.

"What the—" Ianto was half across the room before he even consciously realized what Harkness was about. Ending up on his knees beside the other man’s body, he frantically slammed one hand down on the small hole ringed by burnt fabric and singed flesh. Blood seeped out from beneath the body, and he frantically felt for a pulse, starting to call for medical back-up before realizing that there was no one else in the Hub.

"Fucker, fucker, god damn idiotic fucker," he rasped, working frantically to try to seal the wound, not realizing that it was closing beneath his palm—not until Jack jerked half-upright, gasping in an agonized breath as he did so.

"What the fuck?!"

"Son of a… I hate that part," Jack rasped and then slumped backwards, half-landing on Ianto’s lap. "No matter how many times I do it, it still sucks. You owe me a new shirt, by the way."

"You fuckwit!" Ianto rasped, his whole body shaking with tension before he grabbed Harkness by the lapels and hauled him in for a kiss, their lips slamming together with bruising force, and then shoved him off his lap, looking as if he had no conscious control over any of the actions. "Don’t you ever fucking do that again, or I’ll kill you myself," he snarled as he scrambled to his feet, feeling his fatigue pants slide against his thighs, the durable fabric dampened by Harkness’ blood.

"I’ll just come back again." Jack’s voice was hoarse with repressed emotion. _Don’t think about it, don’t think about it_. "Jones—you kissed me."

"And you fucking shot yourself!"

"Not my first choice but you weren’t going to believe me any other way," Jack sighed, slowly getting to his feet. "Jones, I’ve been shot, stabbed, poisoned, irradiated, had my life force sucked out of me by an alien demon, buried alive in cement and blown to teeny tiny bits, just to name a few. An alien with a gun isn’t gonna kill me permanently. So next time you feel like risking your very finite life, please don’t. I couldn’t take losing you too, okay?"

Ianto was silent for a long moment, looking down at his blood-stained hands. "I can’t promise that," he finally admitted. "I’m sure you’d rather I smile and nod and lie, but I won’t, and I can’t. I had Jake nearly get his brains bashed in by that alien motherfucker and Ross injected with killer butterfly poison; I sure as hell wasn’t going to let you go racing in to get yourself blown in half, and I won’t do it the next time it happens either, so fire me or transfer me if that’s what you have to do because I’m not budging."

Jack’s eyebrows went up to his hairline at the rather passionate speech. "You’re going to be a big pain in my ass, aren’t you, Jones?" he murmured right before he swept an arm around the younger man’s waist, tugged him close and returned the kiss with interest.

"Fuckwit," Ianto growled into Jack’s mouth, one hand fisting in the taller man’s hair, the other dropping down to his ass and dragging their bodies together.

It was like getting hit by lighting except a lot more pleasant, as Jack knew from personal experience. Gasping into Jones’ mouth, Jack raised his other arm around Jones’ waist and pressed them even more firmly together from chest to knees, instantly hard and straining. "Pussy," Jack retorted in kind, biting at Jones’ lower lip before soothing it with his tongue.

"That’s prick to you," Ianto’s retort was spoken into Jack’s mouth as he yanked at his clothes, dragging his hands up under Jack’s shirt to feel the unmarked expanse of his chest.

"Whatever you say, _boss_ ," Jack gasped, his head falling to rest on a well defined shoulder. "Fuck, Jones, you’re killin’ me here," he whispered into Ianto’s neck before sucking a far too tantalizing patch of skin into his mouth as his hands pulled at Jones’ back, trying to draw him closer.

Ianto shuddered and ground against him, panting for breath in the face of the overwhelming desire roaring over him. "Not today, Harkness," he rasped. "Bedroom."

"Christ. Yours or mine? At this rate I’ll be lucky if I can make it up the fucking stairs!"

"Mine is a bunk," Ianto pointed out, quite logically, he thought, considering that the stairs were looking better by the second.

"Mine it is," Jack gasped as he forced his hands to let go of Jones’ waist only to catch on the bottom of his t-shirt and all but rip it off him. "Need you naked, need us both naked—now."

Leaving his shirt where it lay, Ianto grabbed Jack by the waistband of his pants and dragged him toward the door and up the stairs to the guest room Jack occupied, leaning up against a wall to drag off his boots and shimmying out of his socks, pants and boxer briefs even before Jack had the door closed. That done, he pounced, yanking at Jack’s clothes, licking, kissing and biting at each inch of bared flesh.

"Fuck fuck fuck," Jack chanted as he was all but consumed by Jones’ mouth; it was driving him insane with lust. Planting a knee in between Jones’ legs, Jack wrapped his arms around the other man’s waist and, through sheer muscle mass, picked him up and pivoted so that Jones was pressed into the wall once more, this time with Jack’s body pinning his. "Sexy, arrogant fucker," he growled into Jones’ ear as he proceeded to return the favor and devour every inch of Jones that he could get his mouth on.

"Could say the same for you," Ianto groaned, his fingers digging into Jack’s scalp through his hair, tightening them to tilt Jack’s face up to his. "And fucking sounds damn good about now. Heard from Jake that you’re a power top; fine with me, I’m flexible."

"Let’s just say I have a few issues to work through before I switch off again," Jack murmured, his heart barely giving a twinge he was so consumed by his need for Jones. "But I have to argue about not being flexible. I can be _very_ flexible," he chuckled, nibbling a path around Jones’ neck. "You’d be impressed by just how flexible I can be," he teased as he reluctantly backed off enough to walk them both back towards the bed, turning them and hooking a leg behind Jones’ to send him tumbling back on the mattress.

"You look so fucking debauched lying there, but I think I’d prefer to see you looking fucked out." That said, Jack fell to his knees in front of the younger man and swallowed him whole even as his hand scrambled for the nightstand drawer and the tube of lubricant he’d stashed there after the first night the Wild Boys rolled into town and Jake had tumbled into his bed.

"Oh hell that’s good," Ianto groaned, hooking a leg around Jack’s shoulders and urging him on, arching up with each dip of the other man’s head until he finally couldn’t take it anymore and pulled Jack up. "Fuck me already, Harkness," he growled.

"And this would be what they call topping from the bottom," Jack chuckled, hot and dirty, as he squeezed a dollop of lube into his palm and slicked himself up before taking his now lubricated fingers and working them into Jones’ ass one at a time, stretching him open, which hardly took any time at all.

"Fuck me," Ianto repeated, his eyes alight with lust and adrenaline as he dragged Jack’s hand away from his ass, catching Jack’s cock and jerking it, goading the other man on.

"You got it," Jack groaned, surging forward and burying himself in Jones’ ass with a long, steady push. "Oh fuck _me_ ," Jack gasped as he was surrounded by sweet, tight heat. It took a supreme show of willpower to keep from coming right then and there. "You beautiful, fucking bastard!"

Ianto bucked upward, driving Jack impossibly deeper into him, the leg hooked around his hips digging in to goad him on. "Damn, that’s good," he gasped, twisting his head to the side to catch Jack’s mouth, their tongues sliding together as they dueled for supremacy even as the motions of their bodies ripped the sheets from the bed and sent the headboard banging against the wall.

Jack couldn’t have agreed more, if he could think at all. He could feel Jones’ nails rip into his skin, mauling him, only to feel his flesh re-knit almost instantly, the constant, tiny spikes of pain only adding to the overwhelming pleasure. Sweat poured as Jack lost all finesse and simply pounded into the man writhing beneath him. He was well beyond being capable of speech; animalistic noises poured from his lips without him even realizing it as his fingers dug into sleek muscles as he tried to pin Jones down without success.

Rough curses and cries wrenched their way out of Ianto’s throat, and he clenched down around the thick length pounding into him, dragging out each thrust and pull, making Jack work for each slam of their bodies together. His cock was leaking copiously, wetting their flesh and creating a sucking slap whenever their bodies pulled apart. There was no way to jerk himself off; it was too wild, too frenetic, then there was no need; Jack’s cock hit his prostate a final time, and Ianto convulsed, spurting hot liquid between them.

"Oh _God_!" Jack howled as his cock was clamped down upon in a vice grip and Jones’ convulsions rippled along his cock in the most erotic torture imaginable. Barely a heartbeat after Jones started to come, Jack was flooding the younger man’s ass with his own release, collapsing on top of him as he did so.

"Fuck all," the younger man murmured once he’d caught his breath, lazily shifting so that his legs stretched out alongside of Jack’s. When Jack didn’t move, he poked the other man in the side. "Hey, Harkness, don’t tell me I managed to off you through sex."

"Damn close," Jack laughed, raising his damp and sweaty head from where it had been resting. Tilting his head slightly, Jack pressed a kiss against Jones’ clavicle before he rolled off the younger man. "Nice artwork, by the way," he grinned, bringing up a finger to trace down the triple galaxy that marked a nicely muscled bicep and then trailed it down over the Torchwood symbol shadowed by an alpha sign in the hollow by Jones’ come-spattered hipbone. "I’d heard about this, that all of you had one, but not the location. I like it," Jack murmured as he brought the now sticky finger up to his mouth and licked it clean.

"Jake..." Ianto chuckled, shaking his head. "I’m guessing you’ve seen Ross’ on his wrist; now you’ve just got Tom’s to find—sort of like an Easter egg hunt."

"Let’s not and say I did. I don’t know about this version, but the Martha Jones I knew had one _hell_ of a right hook when she got riled. I like my jaw where it is," Jack chuckled, his finger dipping back down to Jones’ left hip to trace the inked skin, smearing come and sweat and rubbing them into flesh as he did so. "It suits you very well," he said after a few moments of silence. "Both of them do—not to mention they’re sexy as all fuck."

Ianto crossed one arm behind his head and caught Jack’s hand with the other, bringing it to his mouth to suck it clean. "Could say the same for you—even without the ink." They fell silent again, the weight of what they had done settling in over them like one of those cocoons they had found, though who knew what would be birthed out of this.

"Thanks," Jack said after a while, a bloom of warmth spreading through his chest. A shudder chased its way through him from the feeling of Jones’ tongue lapping at his skin. "You do that much longer and you may have something else to suck on," Jack warned the younger man, his voice slightly shaky. "Not that that would be a bad thing but..." he trailed off, not sure of what he was trying to say.

He’d just slept with Jones, Jack thought inanely. He’d just slept with Ianto Jones, and it was nothing like he’d imagined or thought it would be. It most certainly was nothing like he’d remembered because this was not the same Ianto. And Jack was beginning to suspect he liked the differences far more than the rarely discovered similarities.

Ianto felt the change sweep through the other man as a minute stiffening of his body, and he let Jack’s finger fall away from his lips, setting his hand back on his chest with a gentle pat. "When the brain re-engages, it’s not a good idea," he offered, giving Jack a graceful way out of the situation. "Besides, I’ve got those reports to write up, and you probably should clean up; you look like someone shot you point-blank in the chest then tried to fuck you through the wall."

He winked as he said the last and rolled out of the bed, feeling well-used muscles twinge. "I’ll have those write-ups on your comp in the morning, Harkness."

"Tomorrow afternoon is soon enough," Jack replied, feeling oddly bereft as he watched Jones get up to leave. "Hey," he reached out and snagged the younger man’s hand and gave it a squeeze. "The brain may have re-engaged, but I still don’t have any regrets about what we did," he told Jones quietly. "I am, however, annoyed that I had to ruin a shirt to get you to believe me."

"I’ll buy you a new one when I get to a store," Ianto promised, tightening his fingers around Jack’s in return before drawing away to get dressed, his nose wrinkling unconsciously as he pulled on the now tacky trousers, slipping from the room with his boots in his hands once he was dressed again.

As soon as the door closed, Jack sighed and got to his feet, heading for the bathroom and a hot shower. He spent a very long time under the scalding spray trying to convince himself that tonight was a fluke and should and would never happen again. Unfortunately, he had little luck convincing himself of either. There were very few things that held Jack’s attention like a good mystery, and it seemed that no matter what the universe, Ianto Jones was ever a conundrum to him. He was well and truly hooked, Jack thought morosely, he only needed to be reeled in, gutted, filleted and served up on a platter. And wasn’t that a cheerful mental image?

Shaking his head in disgust, Jack got out of the shower, toweled himself off and walked back into the bedroom. Wandering over to the small sitting area, Jack snagged the top report from a box of files Rose had sent by overnight courier. The overabundant reading material was part revenge and part necessity in order for him to start familiarizing himself with all four Torchwood field teams and their recent missions. It was also just what the doctor ordered in order to get Jack’s brain to concentrate on something other than the potential minefield he now found himself in—with both Jake and Jones. Pouring himself a drink, Jack settled, into one of the arm chairs and resigned himself to a night without sleep.

~*~*~

Tom locked up the SUV and scrubbed his face tiredly. Shit, he was exhausted. It had taken far longer than he’d expected for him to brief the medical staff, and he’d wanted to stop by and check on Ross and Jake before he left. Lisa had left for the night, but Jake still had a visitor fussing over him—his treating physician—and Tom had to chuckle to himself as he recalled the rather besotted expression on Jake’s face. He had a feeling that Harkness would soon be in need of a new fuck buddy if Tom was reading things right. He hoped that the poor bastard wouldn’t be too upset, considering his relationship track record. Harkness seemed to have one hell of a time keeping a lover.

Walking by the shooting range, Tom noticed that the lights were still, on so he stopped and stuck his head inside, expecting to find either Harkness or Ianto in there. Instead all he found was a mess of fired guns, Harkness’ greatcoat, a black t-shirt—most likely Ianto’s—and a whole lot of blood. Immediately on high alert, Tom palmed his sidearm and, walking over to a security panel, keyed in the code for possible Hub facility breach, sending a silent alarm racing to London even as he made his way silently up to the living area, hoping like hell that Ianto and Harkness were still alive.

"What the fuck?" Ianto yelped, almost colliding with him as he started down the stairs before taking in Tom’s crouched posture and adopting one himself as he scanned their immediate area, looking for potential threats. "Sit rep," he demanded, cursing the fact that his pistol was on his bunk with his jacket.

"You’re covered in dried blood; there’s a pool of it on the range floor along with a fuckload of fired weapons. I found Harkness’ coat and your t-shirt, but I can’t find Harkness," Tom reported in a hushed voice that was tinged with equal parts anger and concern. "I’ve triggered the breach alarm, so London should be mobilizing. And if you don’t know what’s going on, then why the hell are you covered in blood?"

"Fuck," Ianto muttered, lunging for the nearest wall panel and keying in his personal code to cancel the alarm, going through the protocols necessary to prove that he was who he was supposed to be, wasn’t being coerced, and wasn’t possessed by an alien. That done, he turned back to Tom, rubbing his forehead with the back of his hand.

"What happened was that Harkness was pissed that I dared to try to save his life, and he killed himself in front of me."

"He did what?" Tom bellowed. "And you just cancelled the alarm? Jesus, Ianto, Rose and Doc are going to be livid when they find out we let their friend kill himself!"

"He’s telling the truth," Ianto sighed. "He can’t die. Shot himself in the fucking heart and popped back up like nothing happened. It was—that’s a hell of a weight to live with."

"So Harkness shot himself in the heart, came back to life, and you… felt the need to strip down and wander around half naked?"

"You know I’m a closet necrophiliac, Tommy," Ianto snorted. "Seeing him lying there dead, I started to strip off so I could screw him." When Tom started to laugh, he cuffed the taller man on the shoulder. "I was trying to stop the damn blood, scared me half to death myself when he gasped and sat up."

"But he really shot himself? I mean, bullet hole and the whole nine yards? Maybe some alien tech he hasn’t told us about? Seriously dead?"

"I may not be a doctor, but I know dead. Through and through hole, blood everywhere, no pulse, no breath, dead. Not sure how long he stayed that way, because I was working on him, but one second he was dead with a hole in him, next he was alive and whole. Honestly, freaked me the hell out," Ianto admitted.

"Not even a scar?" Tom asked, sitting down heavily on one of the steps. "Son of a bitch, he really can’t die. Well, at least not permanently. Wow, so all those stories of how he died—he really did? Son of a bitch!" The doctor winced as he tried to imagine the amount of pain that their new leader had had to endure in his rather extended lifespan.

"The last thing he needs is you feeling sorry for him," Ianto warned, nudging Tom with his boot to get him to move before heading down the stairs. "I’m going to clean up the shooting range then clean up myself. Everything all right at the hospital?"

Tom got to his feet and fell into step with Ianto in order to lend a hand. "Ross is asleep; Lisa’s at a hotel; and Jake’s well on the way to recovery and starry-eyed over the attention Harper’s been showering on him. Don’t understand it myself, that man is nothing more than piss and vinegar, but Jake’s always had bizarre taste in men," he threw out with a sly grin

"Oi, watch it, Milligan, or our boss might toss your ass out on the street, and then Martha would have to support you," Ianto growled.

Tom chuckled. "Yeah, well, Harkness was an improvement, actually," he teased.

"Was that supposed to be an insult?" Ianto asked, mock-shock coloring his words.

"Prick," Tom laughed, slinging an arm around Ianto’s shoulders. "C’mon, I’ll give you a hand. Let’s get this place looking less like a slaughterhouse, and then _you_ can return the coat to our _boss_ and explain to him why Rose or Doc or both will be calling in the morning to know why we triggered and then cancelled a breach alarm. I’m knackered, so I’m going to bed straight after."

"Christ," Ianto muttered under his breath, not sure how he felt about seeing Harkness again that evening. There was too much still unsettled and raw roiling around under the surface of his thoughts. Too much frustrated desire from wanting to have stayed in that room and seen how many times they could fuck each other senseless that night. _Bad idea all around,_ he thought. Even if there wasn’t the whole strange situation of his being Harkness’ deceased lover’s double, there was the fact that the man was above him in the chain of command and, to put it bluntly, you didn’t piss where you slept.

Once he and Tom had set the range to rights—and Tom had taken a sample of Harkness’ blood to examine in his spare time—Ianto sped through a shower, changed, then picked up the greatcoat and started upstairs, wondering if he should hope that the other man was asleep. A brisk knock on the door, and he settled into a position that was near parade rest, his feet slightly spread, weight balanced evenly on them, and the coat folded over one arm.

The room was dark save for one lone reading lamp in order to let the twinkling lights of Cardiff at night flood through the open curtains of the room. A half empty tumbler of scotch was on the table to the right of the oversized chair, and on the floor to the left was a growing number of read files. At the sound of the knock, Jack looked up from the current file he was perusing, describing Delta’s exploits with a neural disrupter that someone had mistaken for a disco ball and had hung in a night club; he felt a flutter of anticipation dancing in his stomach but forced it back into non-existence. Chances were it was just Milligan checking in with the new boss. Looking down. he abruptly remembered that he hadn’t bothered putting on any clothes after his shower and was sitting there in the buff.

Not wanting to delay his visitor, Jack called out, "Door’s open," thinking that Tom would just pop his head in and not notice Jack’s distinct lack of clothing. He did, however, keep the file on his lap just in case. Twenty-first century humans were still incredibly prudish about nudity, and he wouldn’t want to offend the team doctor’s delicate sensibilities, Jack thought with a small chuckle.

"I’ve brought your coat," Ianto announced, stepping into the room, looking around as his eyes adjusted to the lack of lighting, then going still when he saw Jack in the chair and just what he _wasn’t_ wearing. "And I need to tell you that you’re going to be getting a call from London; Tom thought someone had murdered one or both of us and hit the alarm." His voice was remarkably steady as he spoke, years of having faced down life-threatening situations lending steel to his nerves.

Jack’s heart beat faster at the sound of Jones’ voice, and he had to take a few seconds to compose himself before he turned around to look at the younger man. Unfortunately, there was nothing he could do about the heat that burned in his eyes or the catch of air in his throat as he took in the newly washed and still damp man holding his coat and oh so calmly giving him an update. Son of a bitch, that man shouldn’t be allowed to look that good.

Jack had to give himself a mental whack to the back of the head to engage his higher brain functions again. "Well, he followed protocol, can’t knock him on that," Jack muttered dryly, thinking about the morning conversation. Oooh yeah, that would be a doozy to explain. "Thanks for the coat, you can just toss it on the bed," he continued before unthinkingly offering,　"Now you’re here, want to stay? For a drink that is."

Ianto glanced at the wreckage of the bed he had left not an hour before, weighing possible consequences against the loneliness in Jack’s eyes. "Are you planning on putting anything on?" he asked, taking a hanger from the coat stand in the corner and hanging the greatcoat there instead, his movements crisp and precise as he brushed dirt and grit from the heavy wool.

Jack watched as Jones hung up his greatcoat and felt an overwhelming sense of déjà vu. Trying to swallow the emotions lodging themselves in his throat, he felt as if he’d swallowed a small moon. Tears pricked Jack’s eyes and forced him to blink a few times to clear them.

God, it was like the million times he’d watched Ianto do that, and his heart ached, sudden and sharp, with the acute reminder of everything he’d lost thanks to his own stubborn arrogance. The pain in his chest made it feel like it had happened only yesterday. "Ah, yeah, I’ll go grab my robe from the bathroom," he finally managed to get out, his voice gruff with unshed tears. "Just give me a sec." And with that he hastily set the file down and disappeared into the washroom, more to compose himself than out of any sense of modesty.

Ianto frowned after him, wondering at the sudden change of attitude, but decided not to call the other man on it. Ignoring the scotch, he settled down in the other armchair, picking up the report Jack had been reading and leafing through it when Jack’s absence lengthened

It took Jack longer than he thought it would to compose himself. Splashing his face to get rid of any trace evidence of moisture, he slid into his robe and fastened the belt snugly before walking back out. "Sorry about that, I got something in my eye," he covered, his voice full of its usual joviality. "And I was thinking, now that you’re here, maybe you can give me a hand by giving me your impressions of the other teams. You’ve got a pretty good eye about these things, and I trust your judgment."

Dark eyebrows rose over blue eyes as Ianto took a moment to acclimatize himself to the shift in topic—all right, if that was how Harkness wanted to play it, they would go that way. "Well, none of them are as good as we are," he said, offering a small smile. "But they’re all excellent; they wouldn’t be in field ops if they weren’t.

"But you asked for my opinion, not generalities, so... As I’m sure you’ve read, all of them are about the same makeup as us. Bravo team might be somewhat light in the munitions end of things; they lost a member six months ago, and they’re still looking for the right fit. I think Anders from Charlie is too conservative, but then he thinks I’m an insane jackass, so we’re even there. Delta... well, they ate alien pizza after being specifically warned about it."

"Right," Jack shook his head. "They either need a severe refresher course on basic procedures and protocols or need to be pulled from the field and a new team given a shot. As for Anders, you’ll seem positively normal once he gets a load of me, so take some comfort in that," Jack grinned, refilling his glass.

Settling himself back down in his chair, Jack took a steadying drink and a deep breath. The minute shift in Jones’ body language and tone had been all the warning he’d needed that he’d done something ‘fuckwitted’ again, and he had a pretty good idea what. Jack wanted to make it right or at least explain, and he knew it wouldn’t be easy for him to say this or for Jones to hear it, but it needed to be done, at least for his peace of mind.

"Okay, here’s the thing," Jack began softly. "And please, god, _please_ don’t ever think that I regret what we did earlier because I don’t, not for a second. The thing is, and this is going to sound so unbelievably silly and sappy, but…

"When you were fussing over my coat before you put it away? Ianto used to do that, _just_ like that almost every damned day, and it made me miss him like hell. So I did what I do best; I obfuscated and acted like happy-go-lucky Jack. It’s my first line of defense and probably my most annoying one, so I’m sorry. I know I don’t normally talk about him, and I’m sure you’d rather I didn’t, but I just wanted to explain and let you know that I know you’re not him, and fuck, this is hard," Jack muttered before continuing, "but I’m more than a little attracted to you, _Jones_ , pain in my ass Welsh pussy and probably one the hottest partners I’ve had in my rather long and varied life."

Ianto was silent for a long moment, digesting the explanation before speaking. "You lost someone you loved, Harkness; it doesn’t matter if it was a day, a year, or a decade ago, it hurts, and there are things that will always make you hurt because you miss them. You of all people have to experience that a lot, and to tell you the truth, I don’t know if I could handle that burden; it means you’re a hell of a strong man.

"Obviously, the attraction is mutual, or we wouldn’t have ended up where we did, and yes, it was hot as all fuck, but, and don’t _you_ take this the wrong way, you’re my boss."

"Understood," Jack murmured and then put his glass down and leaned forward, elbows on his knees and chin resting on his steepled hands as he watched Jones with quiet intensity. "But I should warn you, I don’t give up easily. I want to get to know you better, Jones, and I think that’s mutual as well. While I may be your boss in all things Torchwood—and I hate the word boss by the way—we both have lives outside of the office. Unless you tell me no flat out, I’m not giving up on the possibility that there could be an ‘us’."

"Tell me that again," Ianto offered as he stood "when you can look at me and not see him first."

"I’d tell you now, but I doubt you’d believe me," Jack smiled softly, getting to his own feet. "However, when you live as long as I have, you’re forced to develop this lovely little thing called patience. I can wait." Stepping closer, Jack took Jones’ face between his hands and pressed a soft kiss to his forehead. "Good night, Jones. Sleep well."


	14. Chapter 14

Two weeks later, having survived an interrogation by Rose and Doc, something he, Tom, and Harkness were all involved in, dealing with the two replacement operatives sent to round out their team for their remaining week in Cardiff, and a week of sun and brainless partying in Cyprus, Ianto Jones reported back to work in London. Jake was back on duty, but Ross was desk-bound—not that Ianto thought he minded, considering the way Lisa seemed to be hovering over him—making him wonder if the team would even be put on backup duty this week.

Raising a hand to the others in the ops room, he dropped down at a computer and began to check his mail, pursing his lips together when the first thing he saw was a summons from Harkness for the team. ‘8:00 am and bring coffee.’

~*~*~

Jack sat behind the massive ebony wood desk in his new office and looked around with approval. It was everything his old office hadn’t been—sleek, modern and shiny with just a hint of old world and a few exotic pieces that had been contributed by Rose and John from their personal collection of alien artifacts and actually made him feel even more at home. Leave it to those two to know just what he needed, even when he didn’t want to admit it, Jack thought with a wry chuckle. After all, they’d been right about Jones too—not that he’d ever admit it to them as Rose and John were far too smug already about him taking the job.

In fact, there wasn’t a single trace of his old life save for the blue-gray RAF issue greatcoat, now hermetically encased in glass on a life-sized replica of him—courtesy of one Doctor John Smith and his far too familiar sense of the odd. It was the last piece of his old life as well as the fulfillment of the promise he’d made to the man he had loved. He’d sworn to Ianto as the young man had died in his arms that he would never forget him. And Jack never would. Jones might have the same face, voice, and genetic make-up, but he wasn’t Ianto. Ianto had been unique and oh so perfect in his acerbic wit, closely guarded vulnerability, fierce loyalty and blossoming love for Jack. Those were the things that Jack would remember for as long as he existed. Those were the memories he honored with this tribute to his Ianto, for at the bottom of the case was a little gold plaque with the inscription:

 _The stream will cease to flow;_  
_The wind will cease to blow;_  
 _The clouds will cease to fleet;_  
 _The heart will cease to beat;_  
 _For all things must die._

_But I will never forget._

Ianto Jones would always be a part of him, for he’d taught Jack so many valuable lessons, not the least of which was that love was worth fighting for. Which was what Jack was doing now—fighting for a new beginning with a man who had the potential to be the bright star that his dark planet orbited around. Now all he had to do was convince Jones that he was worth taking a chance on. It was time for Jack to put operation ‘woo Jones’ into effect. Hopefully, by the time Jack was done, the younger man wouldn’t be able to use the excuse that Jack didn’t know who he was in bed with anymore.

And speaking of the sexy devil himself, Jack thought with a grin as he watched while Alpha team, _his_ team as he’d fondly begun to think of them, filed into his new office. There he was, looking oh so tanned and good enough to eat. Too bad Jack had been placed on a strict diet. Then again, that might be a good thing, considering the dirty looks that were being leveled at him as Jones very precisely walked over and placed a steaming mug of coffee in front of him, his glare barely concealed. "Why thank you, Jones, most kind of you. You’re looking well rested and very tanned. Good vacation? I trust you stayed out of trouble, well, at least the kind that would land you in jail," Jack said with grin before turning to Tom, Ross and Jake.

"Morning, kids! Nice to see we’re all back on the job. I’ve got a fun-filled day planned for you!" he laughed, winking at Jake. "We’re going to be playing a little game today. It’s called ‘Hunt Harkness’.

"Doc’s perfected the head portion of his body armor with only a few... mishaps, shall we say. Luckily, he had the perfect specimen of a man to test it on, since Ross was still in the hospital, that is,. I’m sure you’re heartbroken about being replaced, Jenkins, but suck it up and take it like a man," Jack deadpanned before continuing. "And now that it is up and running, it needs field testing, so again the perfect specimen is going to offer his services, and as you four are the only ones who aren’t in the middle of a case, you get to help me.

"So," Jack said, clapping his hands together and standing up. "You have ten to grab your weapon of choice, a couple clips of live rounds each, and meet me out front," he informed them, grabbing his coffee and taking his new, black wool trench coat out of the closet. "Chop chop, we’re burning daylight!"

"We’re to hunt you?" Ianto asked, looking for clarification. "With live ammo in London proper?"

"Hunt me with live ammo, yes, but we’re going out to a decommissioned military base, complete with buildings and all. I’ll be wearing the armor because the point is for me _not_ to die this time around," Jack chuckled dryly.

"Local constabulary has been keeping the place free of vagrants and transients since it was decommissioned, and now Torchwood has taken control of it. Seems to me it’s the perfect place to test out Doc’s inventions, don’t you think? Far from the madding crowd and once it’s properly developed, it will make a great training ground for all the up and comers who want to be one of the few, the brave yadda yadda Torchwood," Jack grinned. "C’mon, Jones, it’ll be fun! Like a Wild West shoot ‘em up. Now if only there were a couple saloon girls in those outfits they used to wear," Jack mused, a leer of remembrance on his face. "Anyhow, that’s a story for another time. Grab your gear, kids; let the games begin! The first one to actually get a head shot gets a round of drinks on me after we’re done."

The members of Alpha team filed out of the office, all of them shaking their heads. "Damn," Ross muttered, "I’m going to miss all the fun.

"What?" Jake asked, snickering, "you want a saloon girl?"

"Maybe Lisa in a saloon girl outfit," Ianto added before growing serious. "All right, he’s going to make us work for this, so tracer ammo for everyone. Ross, see if you can hack into the surveillance video there and feed us information."

"Isn’t that cheating?" Tom asked.

"What do you think he’s going to be doing?" Ianto pointed out.

The team arrived at the designated spot just before their time ran out, all kitted out in full mission gear. "Just remember, Harkness," Ianto commented, "if you drop masonry on our heads, we won’t come back."

"Oh please, like I’d do something so mundane," Jack scoffed as he held the passenger side door open for the other man. And he wouldn’t. Jack had actually been out at the training facility for the past few days preparing a few little surprises for his team with John’s far too gleeful assistance. Including a few for their ‘eyes and ears’ because he had no doubt Jones would use all the resources available to him—namely Jenkins in C&C. But that didn’t mean that Jack wasn’t above suckering them in either.

"Ross, you’ll be monitoring from the C&C in the bunker," Jack informed the computer expert after he’d settled himself behind the wheel of the modified SUV he’d commandeered as his own, roomy enough for five—or two to spread out in the back. "You’ll have a feed to my vitals, so you’ll know immediately if the field test fails. If it does, call Doc. I’ll be a mess, so I’d prefer it if you let him handle the clean up. He’s had to do it a few times since I started being his test subject. Now then, buckle up, kids!" he ordered laughingly, peeling out of the underground car park at a less than prudent speed and barely missing scraping the top of the vehicle on the still rising door.

"Christ, Jack, what the hell did Doc do to you?" Jake asked. "At least he only partially suffocated Gregory!"

Ianto listened to the question with half-an ear, still wondering about the door-opening. Strange, very strange. Then he dismissed the thought and concentrated on tactics for the task at hand.

Jack looked back at Jake in the mirror and winked. "Too preoccupied with that new boyfriend of yours to notice the shorter hair?" he teased. "How is the good doctor anyways? Rose tells me he’s moving up in the world, the Torchwood hospital here."

Jake colored immediately and looked out the window. "I... erm... he’s fine," the blond finally admitted with a small smile. "And he’s not my boyfriend yet—but I have high hopes. That promotion he got came rather out of the blue," Jake continued with a pointed look in Jack’s direction, "not that he doesn’t deserve it. It will definitely make things easier having him here in London, though."

"Don’t look at me!" Jack protested. "Last thing I want is to recreate my old life, which would be why PC Cooper and Ms. Sato have been blacklisted for recruitment. But he’s a damned fine doctor, and he kept his head under fire when you and Ross were injured. Besides, I’m not the only one who can make those kinds of decisions, remember? And Rose and John were watching the whole situation quite carefully despite their lack of obvious interference. I think they’re even bigger den mothers than your Jones here," he grumbled, giving the man in question a pointed look.

"But all that aside, Jake, I think you’ll be great for each other. Just... don’t encourage him to try for a field team, okay? Call it a favor for an absolutely fantastic ex."

"You knew him," Tom murmured, following the non-conversation.

"I knew the other him. And if this him is even _remotely_ like the Owen Harper I knew, best to keep him away from alien tech unless it’s Doc approved and out of the field," Jack laughed. "Trouble magnet with a penchant for pissing aliens off with that snarky attitude and the snide comments. Best to keep him in the hospital, I think, and far, far away from alien pheromone cologne."

"Pissing off more than aliens, I’d imagine," Ianto commented idly, recalling his initial run-ins with the lean-featured, dark-haired doctor.

"Yeah, that sounds like my version of Owen too," Jack chuckled, tapping Jones’s thigh lightly in mirth.

"So which one of you is going to be the one to get me, hrm? I’ve seen Jones in action, spent some time with Jake on the range, so you’re the only unknown here, Milligan, but you’ve got steady hands, and I’ve seen your shooting range scores. I’d say it’s fair game for any of you!" Jack continued, letting his hand fall back to his own lap. Small and simple, he thought to himself with an inward smile; don’t want to tip him off just yet.

"You also were out with us when we chased the damned butterflies," Ianto reminded him. "Jake was the only one who didn’t get shots off during that whole mess."

"Not my fault the exterminator threw me into a tree!" the blond protested.

"And I was too busy trying to not strangle my ‘team lead’ for trying to protect the ‘damsel’ as well as try and get a shot off to actually pay too much attention to what the rest of you were doing," Jack chuckled, winking at Jones.

"But it was my own damned fault for letting you keep thinking that I was just a civil contractor at the beginning," he admitted without rancor. "Talk about having a plan backfire! Ah, and here’s the turn off. Hang on," Jack called out before taking a hairpin turn at faster than safe speeds. "I love what John did to this engine!" he crowed.

"God dammit, Jack!" Jake called out. "Some of us _can_ die, you know! And I’ve got a date tonight; I don’t want to show up looking like roadkill."

Jack glanced back in the mirror at the white-faced young man. "Relax, Jake, I’ll get you to the church on time, I promise."

"’m not getting married," the young man muttered. "Just going out to dinner and some art noire flick or something."

"Ooo, an _artsy_ film," Tom and Ross crowed, both men snickering as they elbowed Jake in the ribs.

"You didn’t bother to tell him you liked slasher flicks more?" Ianto asked, looking back over the seats.

"Man deals with blood and gore and crap all day, you bastards. He’s a bloody A&E doctor. ‘Course he doesn’t want to go watch a movie where they paint the screen red. Besides," if possible Jake’s face turned even redder, "I want to make a good impression."

"Jake, you’re perfect the way you are," Jack replied with fond warmth in his voice. "But you’re right—it’s all about compromise. If he’s worth the effort, then even art noire can be interesting. Just take him to a slasher flick next time."

"Thanks, Jack," Jake grinned over the seat. "But for the record, I’ll be getting that round of drinks. This lot is going down!"

"Dream on, Simmonds," Tom snorted while Ianto turned to face the windscreen again, a small smile curving his lips before he turned his attention to the task at hand, one he knew wouldn’t be easy, considering Harkness’ devious mind.

They arrived at the decommissioned base an hour later, and Ianto studied the expanse of empty buildings and weed-strewn pavement. "Anything out of bounds?" he asked, glancing over at Jack, who was looking out at the base with an almost proud, paternal expression on his face.

Jack shot Jones an amused look. "Please, would I ever consider anything out of bounds?" he asked dryly, causing Jake to cackle in amusement. "Seriously though, anything within this complex itself is fair game. Jenkins can take the SUV; the command bunker is half a mile down that road," Jack said, pointing in the direction opposite the way they entered.

Reaching into his pocket, Jack took out a small, clear case that had two silver patches in it, the larger square being his body armor and the smaller dot being the head gear. The body patch he put on his arm and shivered at the sensation of it growing and crawling all over his skin, sealing him in under his clothes. The second dot he placed on his temple and took an instinctive breath in as he waited for the ‘skin’ to become permeable to air and a thin membrane to cover his mouth.

"Not the most pleasant thing," he said after taking in a few tentative breaths of air. "Rather feel like that gas mask kid that introduced me to all this madness. But at least I’m not being asphyxiated, strangled, or having random things cut off... Don’t ask. It wasn’t pleasant," he warned as Jake opened his mouth to repeat his earlier question about what had happened.

"Now then; ten minutes head start will give you kids enough time to try and out think me. Jenkins, you give us _all_ word when you get settled and start getting my vitals—the system’s already set up, you just have to log in like you would any Torchwood terminal. Password’s Killshot." He grinned at the chorus of groans. "What? What’s the point if I can’t have a little fun with it?"

"Good hunting, Wild Boys." Flipping the four men a jaunty salute, Jack turned on his heel and headed into the complex at a fast clip. He had ten minutes to get as many of his surprises up and running as possible. The rest he’d trigger as he went or as needed. Time for some fun.

"Why do I get the feeling that this is going to be anything but easy?" Tom murmured, watching their boss jog away.

"Because it’s Jack bloody Harkness, that’s why," Jake groaned. "But I still plan on getting him first, so you two’d better be on your toes," he added, tossing Ianto and Tom a devilish look. "Anyone care to add a little side wager while we’re at it?"

"Such as?" Ross piped in. He might not be able to participate in the hunt, but he could participate in this.

"Night out at Belinda’s?" Tom suggested even as he checked his pistol and rifle, assuring that both were ready for easy access.

"A suite at the Halkin?" Jake suggested wickedly to the others’ snorts of laughter.

"Dinner at The Dorchester," was Ross’s contribution even as Ianto rolled his eyes.

"Domesticated, the lot of you. I’ll take a ticket to Rio, and, Ross, get your ass moving to that bunker; we need your eyes out there, not that he hasn’t rigged things his way." Ianto’s tone was almost admiring as he spoke.

"All right, since this is a test, everyone is on their own, Ross, if your intel leads to tagging Harkness, you win as well. Anyone Harkess takes out automatically foots half the wager, agreed?"

"Fine then—the winner gets the prize of his choice within reason. Simple enough, yeah? Damned good thing they pay us well," Jake muttered, already anticipating his victory. Jake slapped on his own armor patch, more by rote than by necessity and then strapped on his holster, slid the extra clips of ammo into their pockets and insured his guns had a bullet in the chamber.

"Works by me," Ross chuckled. "Now how’s about that—I win for sitting on my duff and helping you lot win. Can’t go wrong with that." Putting on his com Patch, he keyed it to the team frequency. "Sound check—all right then, lads?" he said, watching three identical nods as Ianto and Tom also geared up.

When all three were kitted out, Ross hopped in the driver’s seat, Harkness’s keys still hanging from the ignition, and hit a general communication frequency that he knew Harkness could hear as well. "I’m heading to the bunker now. Estimated time to game commencement five minutes. Best of luck, boys!"

"Well, you have to admit, things certainly have been a lot livelier since old Jack appeared," Tom chuckled as he re-checked his scope. "Not to mention a lot more creative. This beats target practice on the range any day of the week."

Jake snickered softly. "You have no idea, mate. None at all," was his only comment.

"Thought you were bonkers about that doctor of yours?" Ianto asked mildly even as he was studying the layout of the buildings before him that he could see, plotting his course of attack and the ones he calculated the other two would take.

"I am. Jack and I had a long talk while you were gone," Jake replied idly. "He very gracefully told me to go and get my guy, but I think he had his own reasons for doing so too," he admitted, decidedly not looking at Ianto.

"End of day he was an amazing fucking shag, but there’s no love lost, yeah? He’ll always be a friend and some of the best damned sex I’ve ever had, but it’s safe to say we’ve both moved on to greener pastures. Doesn’t mean I can’t remember being made to pass out. I just won’t mention that fact to Owen. After all, which of us will _ever_ manage to have millennia to practice our techniques?" Jake chuckled. "Sex machine isn’t too far off the mark when you consider how long he’s been at it."

"Damn," Tom whistled under his breath. "Never really considered that angle. I mean I was too busy thinking about what a shit deal it would be to never grow old and never die when all the people you love turn to dust over and over again. But I guess there has to be a few perks to all the bad, and having all that time to hone your technique—that’s enviable that is."

"Enough talking about shagging," Ianto ordered as Ross counted down the time in their ears. "Concentrate on the task at hand; finding Harkness, not asking him for sex tips." Ross reached zero, and Ianto took off, veering to the right, Tom and Jake heading in their own directions, the three of them darting into the maze of buildings, all alert for traps Jack might have set, aware that he was testing them as much as the new addition to the armor.

Jack watched from the rooftop of the furthest building as his three hunters moved off in different directions, disappearing into the complex. Once they were out of sight, he pressed a button on his wrist strap, turning off the individual perception filter that had cloaked him from their sight. It was a bit of cheat to use it, considering it was technology from his universe, but this was a no-holds-barred exercise, and he didn’t plan on using it for the rest of the time, so he felt no remorse. With a small chuckle he hit a few more buttons and keyed in the start command on all the devices he’d activated so far. Only time would tell who tripped what first.

That done, he hit his communications patch, adjusting it to a frequency that didn’t include the Wild Boys. "John, the game’s afoot. Whenever you feel like injecting a ghost into Jenkins’ machine, go for it. Let’s see how he handles a cyber entity taunting him and screwing with his data."

"You are a cruel, cruel man, Harkness," John Smith chuckled from his lab back at Canary Wharf. "I’ve always liked you, but right now I’m in awe. Brilliant, bloody brilliant."

"What would have been brilliant would have been those fully integrated illusions that you’ve been trying to perfect. Oh well, next time I throw one of these little parties we can use them. I’m going radio silent. Keep an eye on my vitals, okay? Once Ross starts dealing with his own scenario, I don’t want to take the chance of Jones seeing me with my brains splattered from here to kingdom come if the shield fails."

"Got it. I’m monitoring you as we speak. Relax, Jack, I’ll handle it. John out."

Keying off his patch, Jack moved into the shadows of the building and continued activating his traps, all the while keeping an eye out for his hunters.


	15. Chapter 15

Keeping one ear on Tom and Jake’s terse updates, Ianto moved forward, taking advantage of the available cover to maneuver his way through the deserted roadways. "Clear so far," came Jake’s report.

"Clear here—" Tom’s voice dissolved into static, and Ianto froze as he heard a distant bang. The only fact that kept him from sprinting to Tom’s last location was the fact that this was an exercise, and he knew that Harkness wouldn’t set anything lethal.

"Flash-bang," Tom said after a few tense moments of silence, sounding angry at himself for missing it.

"Sucker," Ross snickered over the channel. "I have Harkness’ vitals but no location yet. I’ll work on narrowing it down; I think the bastard is trying to jam me somehow."

John "Doc" Smith was idly listening to the chatter from the com in his lab office when his door opened to admit his wife. "So have I missed anything good yet?" she asked breathlessly, her hair windblown and her suit askew. "I practically blew off the vice president just so I could be back here in time for this." Wiggling her way between the desk and her husband, Rose happily took a seat on his lap and sighed in something akin to bliss as his arms came around her and he nuzzled the side of her neck.

"Tom just triggered a flash bang grenade," John chuckled. "He’s the first one to stumble on a surprise. I’m to inject Jenkins’ cyber stalker whenever I want to, but I thought I’d wait for you before I livened things up a little bit."

"Give it a few more," Rose suggested. "Let him get a bead on Jack then fry ‘im."

"Oooh, I love it when you talk dirty!" John chuckled and kissed her playfully just as the door to his office opened again.

"Oi, not in front of your better half, will you?" Donna groaned as she walked in and made herself comfortable in a chair on the other side of the desk. "So what’ve I missed?"

Rose raised an eyebrow at her assistant. Donna acted like _she_ was the one who ran the place half the time—which wasn’t actually far from the truth, not that Rose would admit to it. "Don’t you have a desk to be sitting at, Ms. Noble?" she asked dryly.

"Taking my break," Donna announced without shame. "I’ve got Lisa from accounting sitting in for me. I promised to tell her how her Rossiekins performed as incentive. There was no way I was missing this!"

"You’re not going to win, Rose, better to just suck it up and admit she rules the roost," John whispered into his wife’s ear before answering Donna in a normal tone. "Tom found a flash bang."

"That it? Ooooh, I’m in time for the good stuff. So who do you think will get our Jack then?"

"Ianto’s the best shot," Rose began only to be interrupted by Donna’s snort and Doc’s small chuckle. "Wot? He is!"

"He’s also rather taken with the irrepressible and irresistible Captain Harkness too," John replied with a chuckle

"No, he’s not," Rose retorted, sounding a bit unsure. Was she really that far out of the loop on the office gossip? "They’re just behaving like adults at last, right? Playing together nice and all that," Rose continued only to be met with chuckles from her other half and her executive assistant once more.

everal more flash-bangs and found a containment field around a doorway that he was careful not to enter. Devious and in his own way as brilliant as Doc and sexy as—Ianto cut off that line of thought quickly before he ended up caught in one of Harkness’ traps, and as he recovered, he felt the ground sink slightly beneath his boot.

"Oh fuck," he muttered, careful not to move that foot, balancing himself before slowly drawing his other leg forward. Gathering himself, he leapt forward, tucking his body into a ball to shield his head as he hit the ground and rolled, his move propelled by the concussive wave that followed him.

"Careful, there are shock wave emitters out here too," he sub-vocalized, knowing that Harkness was probably listening in.

"I have a lock on his position," Ross announced, sounding triumphant. "Building 75, looks to be stationary—what the hell?" Ross yelped as the keyboard under his fingers suddenly shot up some sparks and a nasty little ghost danced its way across his machine.

"Ross? Jenkins, report!" Ianto demanded.

"Dealing with something in the system, nothing I can’t handle," Ross said tersely. "Might have a problem helping you out if this keeps up, though. Fucking tossers!"

"Means we won’t have to share the prize with you," Tom commented.

"Like hell you won’t! And this is… Harkness is a sneaky bloody bastard. Oi, look you, piss off, I’m in charge here, not you!" Ross snarled at his computer or, more correctly, the little pixel creature that was currently making very lewd gestures at him while screwing with his data.

"Ross, who’re you talking to?" Jake’s voice crackled over the com, sounding completely normal as he’d finally been released from his time dilation trap.

"There’s a bloody gremlin inside my monitor pissing on my algorithms. Literally. It’s a pixel gremlin, and it’s urinating on whatever I try to do. Bollocks! I need to reinitiate the system safeties and reboot to get rid of the rat bastard or at least lock it behind the firewalls. I’ll be down for at least ten to fifteen while this thing repairs itself!" Ross fought the urge to tear out the keyboard and beat the monitor with it. "Jack Bloody Harkness strikes again!"

Jack, who was monitoring what communications he could, laughed at Ross’s comments. He’d left the ghost—or gremlin apparently—to John, and John’s sense of humor was definitely inherited from his original incarnation, which meant that John was almost as twisted as the Doctor was, apparently.

The only warning Jack had was the slightest of noises, the sound of gravel shifting, just behind him. "Shit." Cursing, Jack dropped into a fast roll and ducked through a nearby doorway just as the first shots of the day imbedded themselves in the wall right where his head would have been had he not reacted. Recovering quickly, Jack was off and running, springing another trap as he sprinted past it, not even bothering to look back to determine who’d nearly taken his head off this early in the game.

"Damn!" Tom growled, tearing after his prey, leaping over the distortion he saw near the ground, noting that the gravel kicked up by his boots slowed as if they were caught in glue and hung suspended in the air below and then behind him as he raced after Harkness, who seemed to be part chameleon, considering the way he vanished once again.

~*~*~

Ianto had gained the high ground, clambering up to the top of one of the buildings, staying as low as possible as he surveyed what he could of his surroundings. He spotted movement to the east and, crouching low, raced in that direction, hearing Tom’s curse below him as well as over the radio. Unlike Tom, though, he could see which direction Harkness vanished in, and he raised his rifle, steadying it on the edge of the roof, lining up the perfect shot.

The only issue was that he couldn’t seem to make himself pull the trigger. Even knowing that Harkness had Doc’s hood on, even knowing that he would come back from any damage a failure in the armor would cause, he couldn’t do it—and then the issue was taken out of his hands when he heard the sound of Jake’s machine pistol and watched Harkness hold out his hand to catch something that dropped from head height.

"And we have a winner!" Jack shouted, looking down at the flattened bullet in his hand. "Whoever got that shot off, I owe you drinks!"

" _Yes_! Told you, you bloody rotters!" Jake crowed, hanging half out of a second story window and pumping his fist in victory. "And I’ll take that room at the Halkin, thanks much. I have a certain doctor to impress!"

"Good shot, Jake," Ianto praised as he stood, slinging his rifle over his shoulder and looking down at Harkness.

"What? Jake got him?" Ross asked, finally having beaten the gremlin in his system.

"Without any help from you," Tom laughed.

"Ross got the initial location; he gets his portion," Ianto cut in, thinking that he could use a stiff drink so he could avoid looking too closely at just why he hadn’t taken the shot when he’d had it.

"You all did exceptionally well," Jack praised. "I’d thought I’d last at least another half hour, to be perfectly honest. So you all get drinks on me. Ross, power down and come pick us up," Jack ordered the man in the bunker. "We’ve got a bar to close down. Well, those of us that have medical permission to do so, that is," Jack amended quickly.

Jack switched his com settings to an open frequency, knowing full well that certain people were listening in from the Canary Wharf facility. "John? Yeah, you heard right; Jake got me. It was a clean shot to the right temple. Pretty impressive actually. The shield worked great, and apart from this damned armor being able to show off my religion, so to speak, it’s functional. I’d suggest a few more field tests just to be on the safe side—situations where live fire isn’t involved or weevil teeth, but other than that it’s good to go. Is Rose with you?"

"Right here, Jack, as is Donna," Rose intoned dryly over the com.

"Hey there, Red, you missing me yet?" Jack chuckled, flirting with Donna shamelessly.

"If you ever followed through on your promises, Mr. Harkness, you’d be the one missing me, I guarantee it!" Donna laughed.

"As tempting as that is, Red, I’m afraid I’m off the market for the foreseeable future," he informed Donna, knowing full well that all three men were listening to his conversation from their various positions.

"Yes, well, that’s all well and good, Jack, but was there something you wanted?" Rose cut in, annoyed that she was the last to know the juiciest gossip concerning her friend as well as deciding that the less she knew about office romances the better.

"Actually, I just wanted to let you know that I’m taking Alpha out and getting them juiced up as a reward for work well done. Don’t worry, it won’t be a regular occurrence, but they impressed the hell out of me today."

"Just don’t get them so pissed they’ll have hangovers; they still have to work in the morning," Rose laughed. "And so do you, Mr. Harkness; we have a meeting with President Jones at 8:45 sharp, and she’s nothing if not punctual," Rose ordered before extending goodbyes for John and Donna as well and switching off their com feed. "Right then, back to work, Ms. Noble, and don’t forget to fill Lisa in on Ross’s pissing gremlin!"

"Oh, as if I’d leave that part out. Bloody brilliant, Doc. Well done," Donna sniggered as she made her way out of the office.

"Bloody brilliant indeed," Rose murmured, kissing John lightly on the lips. "And you’ll be amply rewarded for your creativity later tonight."

"Fantastic!" John sighed happily, watching his wife follow Donna’s example and vacate his office. Who knew, maybe tonight would be the night they made a little Rose or a John/Jack/Mickey.

Back at the decommissioned base Jack shook his head in amused resignation at his friends. "Well, I guess I’ve been told," Jack grinned, turning to locate the three men in their various nearby positions. "Okay, get down here you lot. Ross, shut it down and come pick us up—double time it! I’ll even spring for lunch in an effort to be a responsible management type and avoid getting you shit-faced before three in the afternoon."

"We aren’t lightweights!" Jake protested, a smug sort of strut to his step as he left the building he’d been in, and then grabbed Jack in a hug, whooping as he did so. "Right in the head," he laughed, knuckling Jack in the spot his bullet had hit. "I’m fucking phenomenal!"

"How soon before Doc can integrate those into all the armor?" Tom asked as he jogged up to join them, Ianto lagging behind as he slowly started down from the roof he’d been on.

"I’m sure he’s working on it right now," Jack laughingly informed Tom as he slung an arm around Jake’s shoulder in a friendly manner. "He can be a bit OCD about these things, haven’t you noticed? But it’ll need some more general field testing just to be on the safe side, no dangerous situations for a couple weeks yet, I’d wager, at least not without me being the one wearing the headgear." Jack looked around and noticed their party was still one short, which struck Jack as slightly odd. Since when was Jones such a straggler?

"Stay here, I’m gonna go round up your missing leader," he said to Tom and Jake, letting the younger man go and heading in the direction of the building of the roof he’d spotted Jones perched atop earlier.

"So you know how Jack said he was off the market, Tom?" Jake murmured, watching the taller man lope away. "You don’t suppose…"

"Suppose what?" Tom asked. "He’s gone into mourning because you dumped him for the love of your life?"

Jake slugged Tom in the arm. "Let me ask you this, anything interesting happen at the Hub while Ross and I were in the hospital?"

"Told you, Harkness killed himself to prove to Ianto he’d come back—then left us the mess of his blood to clean up."

"Unh-hunh," Jake murmured but let it go, a speculative look on his face.

~*~*~

Walking into the building where he’d spotted Jones, Jack shut the door quietly behind him and calmly waited for the younger man to come down the stairs. When Jones appeared at last, Jack looked him over carefully and, crossing his arms, leaned back against the door, thereby effectively blocking Jones from using it as a means of escape. "Okay, what’s wrong? And don’t give me a bullshit line—you’ve got your stoic face on. You only wear your stoic face when you’re pissed at me or troubled about something."

"Or I’m pissed that I just lost out on my trip to Rio next rotation," Ianto answered blandly. "And before you say bullshit, I had the shot; Jake beat me to it is all."

"So why didn’t you take it if you had it?"

"He got his in before I did; no point in wasting ammo."

Jack sighed and pushed off against the door, knowing there was more to the story but also knowing that it was a common trait among both Iantos of his acquaintance to have a stubborn streak wider than the English Channel. Jack knew better than to waste his breath trying to get a more realistic answer. "Got it," he murmured. "Ross is probably outside waiting, and Jake will be wanting his drink. We’d better go."

"What do you want to hear, Harkness? That I had the shot and hesitated and Jake got his in? Going to pull me in for an eval now, make sure I’m field ready?"

"No, now I’m going to say you’re human and that I’d never have been able to take the shot period if our positions were reversed. At least you tried," Jack replied with a shrug of his shoulders. "Guess that means I need an eval too, then."

Some of the stiffness left Ianto’s posture at that, and he smirked. "Any eval you have would find you batshit crazy. Now come on before Jake starts squawking about his drinks."

"Rose and Doc knew that before they offered me the job, so they got what they paid for," Jack chuckled, moving away from the door and holding it open for Jones. "After you," he murmured, keeping his smile internal.

~*~*~

Four hours, several platters of food and quite a few pints of lager later, the five men were sprawled out around the table at the team’s favorite pub in London, bantering back and forth and taking joking bets regarding Doc and whether or not he’d be hunting down Ross for his next item to test next since the young man had gotten out of the armor hood testing for the obvious reasons of injury and lack of ability to come back from the dead.

Jack didn’t offer much, just listened to the shop talk as he looked around the table and realized that he finally felt that sense of belonging again. God, he’d missed this, the camaraderie, the good times—being one of the team; it was if all was right in his world again for the first time in a very long time—well, almost all. Just one Jones-sized detail to hammer out and then all would be perfect. But that was for later. For now, however…

"Male pregnancy," Jack chimed in evilly, adding to the growing absurdity of suggested things that the good Doc Smith might be wanting to use Ross as a guinea pig for. "After all, John wants kids, and even if Rose isn’t ready to lose that fabulous figure of hers, he’s definitely gung ho to be a daddy, so the next logical option would be…"

Jake broke out into wild chortles of laughter. "Brilliant, bloody brilliant! Better not drink anything that Doc offers you for the next little while, Ross, else you might end up with a bun in the oven."

"Before you go off, you should all be thankful that you haven’t run into Nostrovites yet. In my old universe, one of my team got bitten by one on the night before her wedding—woke up the next morning looking eight months pregnant and had the Nostrovoite mommy hunting her down to rip the fetus out of her—it’s actually typical Nostrovite childbirth—use some poor schlep to do all the hard work, and then wait for the mommy to rip her precious little bundle of joy from the victim’s womb. Not to mention they’re ugly sons of bitches! The alien, not my teammate."

"I’d take Doc over that, Ross," Tom laughed.

"Sounds safer to me," Ianto nodded, "at least he’d let you deliver the little bugger—and maybe take it to the park on Sundays."

"Awwwhh, can we all be uncles? Uncle Tom, Uncle Ianto and Uncle Jack, how perfect!" Jake crowed.

Jack froze for a second as the memory came sudden and sharp of Steven running down the stairs, all elbows, feet and knees, crying ‘Uncle Jack, Uncle Jack!’ at the top of his lungs. It was like a physical blow, one that was swift and brutal in its attack and designed to deliver the maximum amount of pain in the least amount of time. Jack couldn’t breathe and felt everything he normally kept locked away rise up towards the surface like a poisonous miasma, like a scream that wouldn’t be caged. He needed to get away long enough to compose himself and shove the memories back down into the dark hole they normally resided in. This was Alpha team’s day, and Jack would be damned if he ruined it with a trip down insanity lane. He’d already conquered this, dammit, and he was moving on—building a new life for himself. These boys were his family now, along with Rose and John and the generations of offspring that would follow—his family to guard and protect even if it was himself he had to protect them from.

"Whaddya know, pitcher’s empty," Jack grinned, his voice sounding almost normal, if a little hollow and tinny in his own ears. "And since I’m the one throwing this shindig, I guess it’s up to me to get the refills. Be right back, kids, try to stay out of trouble while I’m gone." Grabbing the pitcher, Jack was on his feet and striding to the bar before anyone else could offer. Once he’d placed the order, Jack continued out the back into the alley, desperate for a few moments of privacy in order to compose himself.


	16. Chapter 16

The four younger men continued their ribald ways, their voices growing louder as they teased each other. Noting their companion hadn’t returned, Ianto frowned and pushed himself up. "Back in a mo," he announced, cuffing Tom on the back of the head when the doctor offered a joke about the size of his bladder. When a check of the mostly empty bar revealed no sign of Harkness, he peered into the bathroom and, finding it empty as well, went out the back, spotting Harkness leaning against the wall. "You all right?"

"Flashback moment," Jack said, not opening his eyes to acknowledge Jones’ presence. "Needed a few to get it under control. Would you mind taking the beer back to the table for me? I’ll be back in after a couple more minutes."

Ianto studied him for a long moment before nodding although Harkness still wasn’t looking at him. "Got it." He replayed the conversation that had happened right before Harkness had vanished, and his eyes narrowed a fraction. "Kids, it was us talking about them, specifically being uncles..."

"Would you believe that the truly horrific part of never aging or growing old is actually having kids? Think about it—how do you explain to a child why Daddy never gets any older? How can you tell your child that they’ll grow old and die and you’ll carry on exactly as you have done their entire lives? And yet worse still is having your grandson call you uncle because your daughter doesn’t want him to know what an aberration his grandfather is," Jack replied quietly. "Steven, my grandson, used to call me Uncle Jack."

"I’m sorry," Ianto said seriously. "That you have to live with that and that you lost him."

"I didn’t lose him," Jack replied quietly. "I killed him. And before you try to tell me that, no, I didn’t, that I just have survivor’s guilt or whatever, I really did kill him. There was this alien race and a very bad deal with far reaching repercussions.

"Long story short, after many bad things and much death we finally figured out how to stop them—but we needed a child to calibrate the frequency that would send them running. The problem was that it would fry the child’s brain in the process. My grandson was the only child available. I had to make a choice, and now I have to live with that choice. So yeah, I really did kill him," Jack finished simply.

"That wasn’t a good week for me, all around. But I’m coping, and I’m even learning to live with it. Who knows, one day I may even be able to forgive myself."

"How many others did you save doing it?" Ianto asked. "I’m guessing it’s not thousands, or tens of thousands, but millions to have forced you to make that choice—which, hard as it was and still is, was the right one."

"Cold, hard logic dictates I made the right decision," Jack agreed quietly. "But Steven was part of _me_. He was my child’s child and probably the only decent legacy that I had to leave behind in my old universe. Instead of protecting and nurturing that legacy, I had to listen to my daughter’s screams as I killed her son, my grandson. That’s going to haunt me for as long as I live, which, as you know, is a very long time," Jack chuckled bleakly.

"I’m not arguing with you, Jones. I know you’re right; I know I did the only thing I could, but… apparently even I can have a disconnect between my head and my heart because the one is in agreement while the other is screaming as loud as my daughter did" Jack took a deep, shuddering breath and then opened his eyes and pasted on a grin.

"But enough about me. This is Jake’s, and Alpha team’s, day. I’ll survive this. I always do," he added with gallows humor. "The rest of them are probably wondering where their beer is. We’d better get back in there."

"If one wasn’t screaming, I’d wonder about your humanity," Ianto said quietly before nodding, "but yes, if we don’t show up, they’ll come looking, and who knows what they’ll think we were up to."

"Well, whatever they might come up with, chances are it would be way off base, wouldn’t it?" Jack replied with a quick smile. "Because we aren’t up to anything; however, that’s not the point. The point is you’d better get back to the table, and I’d better go get the beer. Don’t want the kiddies to get thirsty—or sober. It defeats the purpose of a good drunk." Jack opened the fire door and held it, motioning for Jones to precede him. "Go on, I’ll be right there after I get the refills."

"Get extra," Ianto muttered mostly to himself, as he walked back to the table. "Beer’s on the way," he announced as he dropped down in his seat.

"What took you so long?" Jake grinned. "Who’d you find? Hm? Bloke or bird? At least say they were hot, yeah? Now that the rest of us are off the market, you’re it for lewd tales, Ianto my lad, so you’d best do us proud!"

"Oh please, you telling me you’re being monogamous?" Ross snorted, choking a bit on his beer.

"I usually am when I’m in a relationship, unless we both agree to not be monogamous," Jake replied with a roll of his eyes. "I know I may talk a good game, but I still play by the rules, Ross. The only difficulty was that I was involved with Jack. Except that it really wasn’t at the end of the day. Jack and I had a long talk about it when I was in the hospital. Hell, the first time I made a move on him, Jack told me up front he didn’t want to do the relationship thing again, and given what had just happened to him, I completely got that. I wasn’t out for a relationship either. It was a case of we were attracted to each other. We didn’t want the complications a relationship could bring, so the arrangement worked for us.

"But in the hospital Jack told me I deserved better than just sex, as hot as it may have been. He figured that with Owen I had a shot at having what I’d had with Ricky. Said I shouldn’t throw away any chance at happiness because of him because he would never be the one for me. And then he very nicely and very gently dumped my arse so I could be with Owen," Jake laughed. "Gotta say, apart from us calling it quits, Ianto, it really was the nicest break up I’ve ever had. I just hope he can find someone to love again, you know? Everyone deserves a shot at happy, and he’s had so very little of that lately," Jake began only to color as he realized that he’d been overheard. "Awh shit, hi, Jack!" he stammered, coloring slightly. "Erm, sorry about that, I didn’t mean to wax poetic or anything."

Jack shook his head, set the two pitchers of beer down and then reached across the table with both hands to pull Jake forward so he could buss Jake on the forehead before sitting down. "I am happy, Simmonds, so stop worrying about me. And I mean it too. I _am_ happy. My life is finally making sense again. Things are falling into place, and I’m content to wait and see where they go from here. Concentrate on your doctor, and don’t even think of playing yenta with me. I’m quite capable of doing that all on my own."

The other three men at the table looked at each other and burst into laughter at that statement.

"You do realize that means he’ll be working even harder to find you someone, don’t you?" Tom asked as he poured them all another pint.

"Offering up names, wanting to arrange dates..." Ross added with a snicker.

"Thanks but no thanks," Jack replied easily. "I can find my own, believe it or not."

"Oh, I know you can," Jake replied quickly. "But the question is will you? Like you said before, all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. We wouldn’t want you to get dull, now would we?"

"Jake," Jack began warningly. "Don’t even think about it!"

Ross sniggered into his beer. "Like that’ll stop him."

"Do the exact opposite, actually," Tom agreed after swallowing his own mouthful. "Like waving a red flag in front of a bull."

"Or a pink one in front of a heifer," Ross cackled.

"Oi! Who you calling a heifer, Jenkins?" Jake demanded. "You’re gonna pay for that one!"

"Oh and who’s gonna make me? You? HA!"

Jack watched the antics of the two men and heaved an internal sigh of relief. Jake had been diverted…

"Just because he’s been distracted doesn’t mean he’s gonna forget, Harkness. You’d best stay on your toes," Tom warned quietly, leaning in between Ianto and his boss. "You may want to keep him _very_ busy the next little while just to keep him out of trouble so he doesn’t try and play matchmaker for either of you."

"He’ll be busy planning that big night at the Halkin with Harper, then he’ll be mooning over it for days so we’ve got a few weeks leeway," Ianto murmured.

"Thank god, and by then you should be back on Hub rotation, so that gives me a month and a half of serenity," Jack smirked. "Of course there’s still one remaining single Wild Boy. Maybe I won’t be his next victim after all."

"He’s been trying that one ever since he and I fell out of bed together," Ianto snorted before draining his glass. "And check your math, Harkness, we’re here for three months, not three weeks."

"Hey, I’m still learning the damned schedules," Jack replied with an easy grin. "I should make some comment like ‘damn, now I have to avoid him,’ but truthfully, I’m glad you’re sticking around for three months. It means I’ll be able to use Alpha team as my guinea pigs for some ideas I have," Jack continued after a brief pause, adding the last in order to keep things easy. He’d said what he needed to say, now to cover it up and make it acceptable for all his kiddies.

"Guinea pigs?" Ross’s head whipped around so fast he felt the hot burn of protesting neck muscles. "You’re not handing us off to Doc, Harkness! I’m still on restricted duty, dammit!"

"Just partial," Ianto laughed.

"Yeah, we know Doc _loves_ you," Jake snickered as he refilled all their glasses.

"So," Tom added, his interest piqued, "what ideas?"

Jack had to fight for air in order to answer Tom, he was laughing so hard at Ross’s reaction. "I don’t get it," he gasped. "The man is a domesticated pussy cat, and you act like he’s an Ogronian mercenary putting a hit on you," he teased the cowering computer expert. "But it’s me who’ll be using you as a guinea pig, Jenkins, not Doc," Jack assured the other man.

"As for what ideas, Tom," Jack began and then fell silent as he thought of how to phrase what he wanted to say. "I have some... concerns," Jack admitted slowly, "about the modifications that I’ve been helping John with for the Valiant. Time travel isn’t something to be toyed with, even when that someone has all the memories and knowhow of a Time Lord. I’m telling you kids this in the strictest of confidence, you realize," Jack warned them all.

"Rose is, well, she’s the closest thing I have to family in this universe, and I would rather relive every death I’ve ever experienced than hurt her or have her hurt. I’ve come to know, respect and genuinely like the man that is John Smith as well. I’d even be willing to say he’s probably my closest friend next to Rose. But he’s not my Doctor even though he’s much better than the Doctor in many ways. John is happy being human, and he definitely makes Rose happy, so I’ve kept my concerns to myself because they’re just so damned... cute together that you don’t want to rain on their collective parade, you know? They’re kind of nauseating really, now that I think of it.

"But I digress a bit. The point is, he isn’t a Time Lord, and time is... delicate. It was something the Time Agency drilled into my head over and over again, before I even knew the Doctor. You just don’t fuck with time without some seriously major repercussions—or even paradoxes. One wrong move, one wrong word, hell, one wrong _bug_ you step on and you can do irreparable damage; you can even turn someone into a fixed point just because you want them to live," Jack sighed as he remembered the events that made him what he was today.

"The bottom line is that John and Rose are determined to turn the Valiant into a TARDIS of sorts, but I’m not so confident that they’ll manage to get the outcome they’re looking for. I wanted to—no, let me rephrase that; I was hoping you four would help me. I want to develop emergency protocols in case something goes wrong with upgrades," Jack confessed. "Anders and his team are good, but he’s a pompous twit who doesn’t like me very much on either a personal or professional level. He’ll learn eventually, but for now I don’t trust him or his team. The people on Stevenson’s team are just like Doc; their scientific egghead brains are eating all this up, so not a chance I’d approach them. As for Siobhan’s team... tainted meat, that’s all I have to say on that one.

"Bottom line, I need people I can trust, and I trust you four. What happened in Cardiff proved your mettle, and it’s impressive, to say the least. I know I can count on you kids to do what needs to be done, no matter what the cost. And there might be one hell of a price to pay," Jack admitted grimly. "The TARDIS was a much more advanced version of what Doc is trying to develop. The Doctor—my Doctor—once compared his TARDIS and my wrist strap’s vortex manipulator by saying that the TARDIS a cosmic sports car to my space hopper—not very flattering, really, but true nonetheless. A TARDIS harnesses the power of a time vortex to move through time and space; a vortex manipulator just latches on to that power and slingshots itself around—and not very precisely either. The last time I used my vortex manipulator, I was aiming for the late 20th century. I ended up in 1869! I’d overshot by nearly one hundred and fifty years, and that was a relatively minor error compared to some I’ve heard of."

Tom sucked in a harsh breath of air at this description, and the reactions garnered by Jack’s grim laugh were anything but pleasant. He didn’t want to know how bad bad could get, and his thoughts immediately turned to Martha and the wedding they’d been discussing. He’d do anything to protect her, and Earth, from disaster, even if it was of Torchwood’s own making.

"I see you’re beginning to grasp my concerns. For example, the TARDIS landed in the Cardiff of my universe, and it was both directly and indirectly responsible for taking the tiny rip in the Rift and turning it into a huge and often times bloody tear. I remind you that this was the ‘sports car’ that did that, not the space hopper. So yeah, I have some fairly substantial concerns, and I’m hoping that you four can help me come up with, for lack of a better word, a doomsday plan just in case we’re faced with a worst-case scenario."

"You’re worried that Doc is building an out-of-control clunker," Ross mused, looking thoughtful, "and if it crashes, it’ll take out all of London."

"Or the whole of England. Who knows, he could split the Rift wide open and the entire damned planet could fall through to who knows where. The good news is that John isn’t that far along from what I’ve seen and what he’s told me," Jack replied.

"Which means we can have the protocols in place before he starts making real progress on it," Ianto commented, tapping his finger against the side of his glass of beer as he thought.

"Since you’re helping him, you could slow him down until we have everything in line," Jake offered, only to be cut off by Tom.

"Even if he worked day and night, it’s still going to take years, but having a containment plan ready to go is the best way to go. You keep proving you’re not just a pretty face, Harkness."

"Though you can stop calling us kids," Jake said, pointing an accusing finger in Jack’s direction.

"Okay first, do you really think anyone can slow down or stop Doc when he’s got an idea?" Jack asked pointedly. "Second, yes, I have a pretty face, but I also have a killer mind; you may want to remember that in the future. Third, get used to it. It’s an old habit, and while I’ll try to remember your objections, it will probably slip out more than once," Jack finished, reaching across the table to tug on Jake’s finger.

"Now put that away before I give you a suggestion on what to do with it which your Doctor Harper may or may not appreciate."

Tom rolled his eyes. "Pretty face, killer mind. Got it. And the rest of us don’t want to know the suggestion, so don’t even ask, Jake!"

"Fine, ruin all my fun," Jake groused, tugging his finger back out of Jack’s grasp. "Tell me later?"

"No," Jack grinned wickedly. "It was a one-time offer, and time is now up. You’ll have to figure it out on your own. Don’t worry, I’m sure Owen will be more than happy to help you."

"Well bollocks!"

"Our hearts bleed for you, Jakey," Ianto snorted though his expression was still thoughtful as he mulled over Jack’s proposition.

"I don’t need to tell you that I want this kept quiet," Jack cautioned. "I’ll tell Rose and John when we have it hashed out and ready to implement as well as tell them the reasons why I did it. No need for you lot to take that heat since it’s my idea. But until then, just us five on it, got it?"

"We’ll need to encrypt the information we’re putting together," Ross mused, his mind already running through hexadecimal encryption protocols and redundant servers on which to bury the information.

"I’ll need blueprints of the Valiant indicating the areas where the modifications need to go as well as any current schematics you have," Jake piped in. "I’ll also need to pick your brain on what sort of explosives work on time vortex thingies or any other means to collapse the device or trigger an implosion of some kind to minimize damage."

"We’ll also need trauma scenarios and loss calculations and projections done," Tom added pragmatically. "Too bad we can’t bring Martha in on this; she’d be a right help in terms of setting up triage points and stockpiling medical supplies."

Jack shook his head in amazement. Just like that and they were all on board and thinking of needs. "No offense to your fiancée, Tom, because I like Ms. Martha Jones in both her incarnations but… Your feelings on the subject of bringing Dr. Jones into the containment scenario?" he asked, turning to Jones.

"I think this conversation would be better served if we all weren’t half snockered," Ianto mused. "But I’m inclined to agree with Tom; Martha knows when to keep her mouth shut, and she has the most mass-casualty planning experience. I also think we’re going to need to run drills once we get these protocols in place."

Jack picked up his glass of water and tapped the rim with a chuckle. "Speak for yourself, Jones. I’m as sober as a judge. Someone hasto drive you drunkards back to sleep it off. So we include the marvelous Ms. Martha in our plans. I volunteer my place for the first meeting—best keep this as far away from work as possible for as long as we can. I’ve got a fair amount of equipment at home anyways in order to help Doc. Jake can drive or give you the address once you’re all sober again."

"But I thought you were with Doctor McGrouchy now?" Ross demanded.

"I helped him move to his new flat and pick out stuff for it, you daft git; I already told you I’m not sleeping with him anymore," Jake growled, backhanding Ross’s arm in disgust. "And you lot have the nerve to say I have a prurient mind, trash-talking like that!"

"If you think that’s trash-talking, you’ve had more to drink than you can handle," Ross snorted as the others laughed.

"Oi, I’m a one man bloke now, so there!" Jake replied, startling his team mates into silence for a few moments.

"Oh, pull the other one," Ross finally got out.

"I’m not joking," Jake replied seriously. "I... Owen’s bloody amazing, and I’m not gonna tart around and jeopardize a chance to have what I had with Ricky before he died. So yeah, no more mucking about for me."

Ianto watched the blond before leaning over and slinging an arm around his shoulders. "If he treats you bad, tell me, and I’ll take it out of his scrawny hide," he said seriously.

"Hey now, don’t be denying us a piece if he hurts our Jake," Tom rejoined immediately.

"Hear hear!" Ross slammed his mug down, eliciting some covert glares from surrounding patrons. "Wild Boys stick together! He hurts one of us, he hurts all of us. We all get a piece."

"Remind me to never do that," Jack replied mildly, shaking his head in amusement as he signaled for another pitcher of beer. "I’ve seen what you can do when you get pissed."

"No threatening my boyfriend before we’ve even—" Jake stopped, colored, and cleared his throat at that before grabbing for his glass of beer. "Okay, so maybe he’s not my boyfriend, but I want him to be, and I definitely want the benefits that come with!" Jake mumbled into his glass.

"Still holding out? It must be a record!" Ianto laughed, tightening the arm he had around Jake’s shoulders before letting the other man go.

"Oh, I hope you have weeks of not getting any," Ross crowed gleefully. "Because I’ve got plenty of material thanks to you lot ragging me about Lisa!"

"Now, children," Jack interjected before another round of insults and slap fights erupted. "We don’t want these nice people around us to think you’ve got no manners. Try to keep it to a dull roar if you can."

"You bought the beer," Tom protested, "you deal with the results!"

"God, it’s like being partnered with John all over again," Jack groaned. "Yeah, the four of you pretty much make up one of him. Sex," he said pointing at Jake, "alcohol, the lot of you; Ross—drugs with your pain meds; and I’ve no doubt Jones had contemplated murdering me until I saved him the trouble just to prove I can’t die. So yeah, that about covers all of John’s more charming traits. But he was a damned good wife."

"Notice who didn’t get any bad traits," Ross snickered, elbowing Tom in the side.

"He said alcohol!" the doctor objected, glowering at the younger man.

"Never mind that," Jake asked, his eyes bright with interest. "Who the hell is this John fellow so we can avoid him?"

"Someone from my very distant past in a universe that’s far, far away," Jack replied, chuckling at the memory that his choice of words evoked for him. At the time he’d been ready to kill Hart but now... "It was literally another life. Before I ever met the Doctor or Rose, back when I worked for the Time Agency. John was my partner and _my partner_. A crazier son of a bitch you couldn’t imagine. We ended up going our separate ways, and the next time we met up, he shoved me off the roof of a high-rise office building; it was a damned good thing that by then I couldn’t really die."

"With friends like that..." Ianto murmured, shaking his head as he drained his glass.

"Tell me about it," Jack replied with a wry grin. "But I was a very different person back then, and John suited the man I was rather well. It took a very special Doctor and a girl named Rose to make me see my potential, and then it took someone equally amazing to help me get in touch with my humanity again," Jack admitted with a fond smile.

"Let’s hear it for humanity!" Ross laughed, raising his glass in a toast that the others echoed before they all dissolved into laughter again.


	17. Chapter 17

"Hell, remind me never to let Harkness buy us drinks again, okay?" Tom groaned as the weary teammates congregated in the locker room several weeks later. "I still can’t feel my toes."

"Have some coffee," Ianto advised even as he took a drink from the steaming travel mug that had been waiting at his desk when he arrived, just as it had been every morning for the past few weeks.

"Yeah, well, not all of us had time to pick up a cup on the way in," Ross groused as he changed into his fatigues. "We have to wait for the bloody machine to finish percolating."

Jake picked up the cup he’d grabbed on the way in to work and sniggered. "And not all of us waited until the last possible second to crawl out of bed so we had no time to pick up a cup on the way in. You’re getting old, Ross; can’t hold your alcohol anymore!"

"Fuck you, Simmonds," Ross growled, lunging for the coffee pot as the machine finally beeped.

"No thanks, not my type," the blond snickered, neatly side-stepping the punch Ross threw in his direction, only to bump into Ianto and nearly get the other man’s coffee dumped over him.

"Much, much too loud," Tom groaned, pressing his palms against his forehead.

"What? Martha didn’t mix you up a hangover cure?" Ianto laughed.

"Said I got to enjoy the fun time with Harkness, I could deal with the aftermath," Tom muttered.

"See!" Ross chimed in, "It’s not just me; Tommy’s hang dog too!"

"Morning, kids!" Jack exclaimed cheerfully as he walked into the locker room, looking quite modern in a blue-black t-shirt with a rock logo on it, his hands tucked into the back pockets of a pair of sinfully tight, faded jeans.

"Bloody hell, _Jack_! What happened to the dress shirts and braces?" Jake asked, sitting down hard on the bench in shock.

"Trying out a new look for the new me. What do you think?"

"I’m gobsmacked. You look bloody brilliant—okay, who are they?" Jake demanded suspiciously as his mind leapfrogged from A to date, forgetting entirely about B and C.

"I have no idea what you’re talking about, Simmonds. Just came to give you all the heads up that Rose will be on the warpath when she finally makes it in this morning. Apparently John brought up the whole P word debate again last night. The man’s a dog with a bone right now." Jack chuckled wickedly.

"You know Doc, once he gets something in his head..." Ianto commented, watching Harkness out of the corner of his eye, finding that the more covered up look was easier to deal with; this one reminded him that he knew exactly what lay beneath the too soft-looking fabric. "And I thought you and Rose had a meeting with the president this morning; a little dressed down for that, aren’t you?"

Jack fought the urge to grin as he processed the question. Perhaps he’d keep this new look if it had this sort of effect on Jones. "Already had the meeting," he answered. "Madame President bumped her meeting up by a few hours as she started her day at five am today and decided to inflict the same punishment on Rose and I," Jack explained. "Rose decided to go home and get a few hours extra sleep. I, on the other hand, foolishly decided to take advantage of the quiet and slog my way through a few dozen older team reports and personnel files, so I just changed into some clothes I’d left at the office for emergencies when I got in an hour or so ago."

"Jack, you’re turning into a work-horse," Jake laughed, making the others chuckle as well.

"Well, you see, I have this _problem_ team—always getting into the thick of things, destroying their transpo, causing waves… they’re responsible for generating about half of the paperwork that crosses my desk despite there being three other field ops teams," Jack replied pointedly. "So if I am becoming a work-horse, I rather know who to blame."

"Hey now, we haven’t totaled an SUV in months," Tom protested.

"I believe Rose’s take on that was ‘sheer dumb luck’," Jack said straight-faced.

"Not our fault we’re the best team you’ve got, so we get the almost cataclysmic assignments all the time," Jake added cheekily. "Better us wrecking a few cars than certain other teams that shall not be named wrecking a few city blocks!"

"I hate to break it to you, Jake, but cost for cost, your replacement vehicles and specialized equipment pretty much equals the reconstruction cost of the half-built subdivision that Charlie team torched."

"Sorry," Ianto said, not sounding repentant at all.

"Watch it or we’ll get some horrid powder blue Prius or something to drive," Ross muttered.

"I was thinking more along the lines of a camper van—big enough for you four and your equipment with room to spare," came Jack’s stern reply. "Don’t make me do it—because I will. I know a guy."

"Now that’s cruel and unusual punishment, even for you, Jack!" Jake moaned. "My da and mam took us camping in one of those nightmares when I was eight. It was the closest thing to child abuse that I’ve ever experienced! Traumatized me for life, it did!"

"Then don’t wreck any more cars!" came Jack’s rejoinder, which was accompanied by an evil grin. "And don’t forget to avoid Rose today. Be good, boys. I’ll be watching." With that warning Jack sauntered back out of the locker room, intent on grabbing himself a cup of coffee and a raspberry danish from the canteen now that he’d checked on his kids and made sure that Jones had gotten his cup of coffee.

"Torture from Harkness and Rose in a rage," Tom groaned. "And why the hell are you so chipper this morning, Jones? Shouldn’t you be as hung over as we are?"

"It’s called the morning run; does wonders for your health, Tommy, you should try it some time," Ianto chuckled, finishing his coffee and leaning against the wall, waiting for the others to change.

"Morning torture is more like it," Jake grunted, shuddering as he zipped his pants.

"Oh piss off, unlike some people I don’t see the point at getting up at the arse crack of dawn just to torture my body. I’ll take a gym any day of the week," Tom replied. "Especially when I’m this hung over. Never drinking again, I swear!"

"That’s what you said last time too," Ross chuckled after he finished tossing back his first cup of coffee and then headed to the pot for a refill. "I am merely going to thank whatever stars are smiling on us that we’re on standby this week. Today is the perfect day to hibernate behind my desk and play with some security protocols for potential special projects."

"Same here," Jake and Tom agreed while Ianto shook his head.

"Not I, it’s a day of catching up on what’s been going on here for me—anyone want my job?"

"Not on your life!" Ross shuddered. "I’ll stick to what I know, thanks, and leave you to the aggravation."

"To the kissing up to Harkness, you mean," a voice commented from the door, and the Wild Boys groaned collectively as they saw the tall, blond form of Charlie team’s lead standing there. "Or should I say sucking up in Simmond’s case?"

"And he does it so well, too," Ianto said coolly, his blue eyes narrowing as he watched Henry Anders come into the locker room, followed by the rest of his team.

"Awh, don’t mind Anders, boss," Jake replied coyly. "He’s just miffed because the captain turned him down when he offered. Not his fault really, Harkness just has exceptionally high standards when it comes to his partners."

"You watch your mouth, nancy boy," Charlie team’s munitions specialist growled. Phillips had been recruited from the Army and never could understand how Simmonds not only got into Torchwood with no real training but also got recruited to Alpha team.

"Don’t need to, I have someone to do it for me," Jake immediately retorted with a campy leer. "And he does it oh so well."

"Jake," Tom muttered warningly. Last thing they needed was a blow up in the locker room with Harkness likely to walk by at any time from the canteen and Rose in a strop.

"No, Tom, I’m sick of his whinging about how I don’t have the proper experience to be in Torchwood, let alone on Alpha. I earned my spot on this team and not on my back either. I did it by being one of the few people to have the balls to stand up to Lumic and his so-called advancements in science, which people like our boy here supported and defended. I did it by standing on the front lines of the Cybermen war and surviving, so don’t tell me take it easy. I’m sick of their high and fucking mighty attitude just because I didn’t toe the line and join the army and go through ‘proper channels’ to get my education. You lot can kiss my arse because I’m ten times the munitions expert any of you will ever be!"

"Hear, hear," Ross muttered from where he leaned casually against a wall, having moved into a more advantageous position in the room.

"You have a problem with my team, Anders?" Ianto asked, his tone deceptively mild.

"And you as you bloody well know," the larger man snapped. "No wonder you almost got taken out by a lot of butterflies."

"Lads, Henry has a problem with us." The corner of Ianto’s mouth curved up in a smirk. "I’d like to say we solve it right here, but that would piss Rose off and, besides, my coffee would get cold while we whipped their arses, so we’ll do this by the book. You do remember the book, don’t you, Henry? In the ring once we’re off. Care for today or do you need a while to get ready?"

Anders snorted in derision. "Unlike you lot, we haven’t been coddled by Harkness the last month or so. After shift is just fine, eh, mates?"

Phillips looked at Jake and bared his teeth. "Oh, I think after work would be just fine. So do we all get a go round or what?"

Jack stood just outside the door to the locker room listening and fighting back the urge to burst in and end this right now. Unfortunately, he knew that if he did, he’d just be confirming what Anders and his team thought, and that was the last thing Jack wanted to do. But he’d be damned if he’d just ignore the whole event. The least he could do was be there and watch, even from the shadows, as Jones dealt with this for the both of them. Although Jack thought that maybe Anders and his team could do with a day of ‘Hunting Harkness’; however, it would be without the camaraderie and fun that Alpha team had engendered, and who knew, maybe Jack would miscalculate on a flashbang or a concussive grenade or two. Jones’ voice pulled him back from his nasty little reverie, and Jack quickly refocused on the conversation taking place in the locker room.

"Team leads only," Ianto said flatly, his gaze taking in the other four men at once, noting that Liu, Charlie’s tech expert, and Berkley, their medic, seemed relieved by the announcement. "After all, you lot are active, don’t want you flat on your backs; who knows what Dr. Jones might come up with to treat you."

"You lot would know about being flat on your backs," Anders growled, drawing a laugh from the Alpha team members.

Outside, Jack quickly and quietly made his way to the bank of elevators that went up to the top floor of the central tower, the floor his office was located on. He had a lot to think about and, more importantly, some intelligence to gather on what sounded like something that happened more than once. Once he had the facts, he would then come up with a way to deal with this once and for all.

"You say that like it’s a bad thing," Tom snickered.

"Six o’clock, Henry, and remember not to wear your armor." Ianto waited until the other men stomped out of the locker room and rolled his eyes as he finished off his coffee. "Twats."

"One of these days I’m going to make Phillips kiss my nancy boy arse—literally." Jake growled. "Kick Anders’ in his peanut-sized nuts for me, all right, mate?"

"Glad to," Ianto promised, snagging an arm around Jake’s neck and pulling him in to give him a sloppy buss on the temple. "And you know we all appreciate your nancy boy arse."

"It’s a fine one," Tom agreed before Ross chimed in.

"From a distance."

"True, it seems to belong to Dr. Harper now," Ianto chuckled, letting the shorter man go. "Now come on, lads, we have work to do; the fun will start once we’re off."

Standing by the window of his office, deep in contemplation, Jack was pulled from his thoughts by the appearance of Alpha team far below him in what was known as the pit. The inside of this particular tower of the Canary Wharf facility had more in common with an open concept hotel or the New York Stock Exchange than with a normal office building. Many of the administration offices had inner windows that looked down into the central core of the building that housed the operations

He’d barely noticed when Anders’ team had strolled in a few moments prior, but he knew almost the second that Alpha team had entered the floor. He was too damned hyperaware of the team—and Jones, and Jack needed to get away from the window before he gave the wrong impression. In fact, getting out of the office entirely suddenly seemed like a brilliant idea. Leaning back, Jack hit the intercom button to the lab. "Hey, John, feel up to a visitor? I’ve got a few more ideas for upping the ante out on the training field, and I want to run them by you. All the teams could do with playing ‘Hunt Harkness’, don’t you think?"

"Brilliant idea! Come down, come down. We can brainstorm and come up with some really naughty surprises for our lads and ladies."

~*~*~

"You ready for this?" Tom asked casually as he leaned a hip against the side of Ianto’s desk and looked down at him.

"After a day of playing catch up with the last month’s reports? I think I’m ready to kill something," Ianto chuckled, shutting down his computer, standing and stretching once he was on his feet. "What about you?"

"Me? I just have to stand there and watch you beat the shit out of Anders and maybe stick a butterfly on your eyebrow if he gets a lucky shot in."

"Well, I wouldn’t want to tire you out."

"I’ve got the scanner to make sure that he doesn’t wear his damned armor this time," Ross announced as he and Jake came up as well.

"Wouldn’t put it past the bastard to find some other way cheat this time," Jake snorted. "You know he’s been itching to slide his team into Alpha spot for almost a year now. He’s just using the fact that we get on so well with Jack as an excuse."

"Speaking of our fearless top dog, has anyone seen Harkness around today? I mean other than him looking down from on high once or twice. I heard rumor that he was holed up with Doc in the lab plotting for most of the morning. This, I might add, fills me with much more dread than the thought of Ianto not being able to send Anders packing with his tail between his legs like the mongrel he is."

"He’s been quiet, which should probably worry me," Ianto mused, realizing that he’d grown used to seeing Harkness all the time during the month they were all in Cardiff. "And for that last comment, Ross m’boy, you’re buying the booze next night out."

"Hey, I was just saying that you winning is a no brainer and Jack plotting with Doc is bloody terrifying!" Ross protested.

"You really need to learn to think before you speak, Jenkins," Tom laughed. "You just dig yourself deeper. C’mon, let’s head down and make sure that the bastards haven’t rigged the place. Oh, and don’t look now, but Harkness is in his office window."

"That’s going to take some getting used to," Ianto mused as Alpha team trooped out, heading down to the gymnasium in the basement, where he turned off to go get changed, knowing that the others would check out the ring and wait for Charlie team to arrive. By the time he came out of the locker room fifteen minutes later, the area around the ring was crowded with field agents and general staff, and he groaned to himself, wondering what Harkness was going to do when he found out—if he hadn’t already.

~*~*~

Jack waited until the Wild Boys had left, walked back to his desk and hit the send button on the email waiting patiently on his computer screen entitled "Priority Directive from Head of Field Operations". Once it had gone out, Jack killed the office lights and locked up as he left. When all of field operations opened their emails next, they would find a very terse and clear cut set of new rules and regulations that all personnel would follow, or they would find themselves summarily dismissed and retconned to avoid any potential leaks of classified information with absolutely no exceptions to his rule.

And there would be no negotiating or appeal to either the Administrative or R&D branches of Torchwood either. The memo was a collaborative effort to tidy house a bit as evidenced by three signatures at the bottom of the memo. Rose Tyler-Smith and Doctor John Smith fully endorsed and supported the new processes being established by Jack and would be implementing their own in short order. There would be similar memos coming down from each of those departments in the next few days, but the events of the day had forced Field Ops to send theirs out first rather than waiting for it to be delivered simultaneously through all three branches of Torchwood. It was time to introduce everyone to Jack’s law.

Taking the back way, Jack used his security clearance to let him through places that very few people could get to, even within the Torchwood chain of command. Basically, he walked the routes that only three people could access, Jack being one of those three. In a little under five minutes he was on a catwalk hidden among the shadows of the ceiling, looking down at a gymnasium packed to the gills with Torchwood personnel.

Rose had told him earlier that afternoon how, in the past, these sorts of events were as much about sizing up the competition as well as letting off a little steam. They were almost gladiatorial battles with each ‘champion’ defending the honor of their team in a battle royal. The true test of who took top spot took place on the training field in an intense, no-holds-barred competition where the last team standing took the top honors. This sort of challenge, however, was often a precursor to an outright challenge if there was consensus among the majority of field ops that it was time for a changing of the guard.

However, this ‘calling out’ practice was about to become a thing of the past. The only one who could make those decisions from here on out was Jack with the assistance of Rose and John. From the moment Jack had taken over field ops, his word had become law. And field ops was about to find that out in spades come first thing tomorrow.

But, to be fair to everyone Jack had spent the majority of the day creating a brand new set of directives along with their checks and balances. It had been the only way he could get through the day without calling both Anders and Jones into his office and ripping them a new one for this. Jack understood tradition, respected it if the respect was merited, and so, despite his feelings to the contrary, he would let this play out. He would stay up here on the catwalk and watch, but he would not interfere.

And when he left here tonight, there was a bottle of wine waiting on the front seat of his SUV that he would take over to Jones as an excuse to make sure that he was okay. And who knew, maybe they’d actually be able to talk for once, really talk.


	18. Chapter 18

"Time to watch Jones get his ass handed to him?" Phillips asked as he sauntered past the bench where Tom, Ross and Jake were sitting. "Maybe Simmonds can offer to kiss it better for him."

Tom reached out a restraining hand and wrapped it around Jake’s wrist. "Let it go. He’s a small-minded prick who can’t handle knowing that he’s second string material at best."

"I think they’re worried about getting bumped off the rotation and sent back to the general pool," Ross commented, watching Anders come out of the other locker room, his thick muscles gleaming in the fluorescent lighting. "Christ, has he been taking steroids?"

"If he has, that would explain the mood swings—kill your dick, those do," Tom chuckled, grateful when Jake smirked as well.

"What does? Looking at Anders?" Ianto asked as he joined them, dressed in boxing trunks and carrying his mouth guard. "Wrap my hands, would you, Jake? No need to bruise them on that idiot’s hard head."

"Or break them," Jake muttered. "He’s been bulking up in a major way. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s been planning this for a while. Watch that pretty face of yours, Ianto, wouldn’t want him to sideline you from pulling," Jake teased his best friend with a laugh as he took extra care in wrapping Ianto’s hands for him. "Besides, we don’t want any more Wild Boys in hospital for a while, yeah? The boss may not like it."

"Hell yeah, avoiding hospital is a good thing," Ross agreed fervently. "But by the same token, put him in his place once and for all, will you? I’m sick of these annual attempts to kick our arses. You’d think they’d have learned after the third attempt, but no, they came back for more year four too."

"Notice that they haven’t tried to make a real run at us—an official try to take our place," Tom mused as he watched Phillips prep Anders with Liu and Berkley assisting. "Probably scared of failing—again."

"Maybe Anders just wants to get his hands on Ianto, and this is the only way he can," Ross pointed out, making the others gag.

"You make me heave right now, and it’s going to be on you," Ianto muttered, flexing his hands to check the tightness of the tape around them and nodding. Tom strapped on his lightly padded headgear and slipped the mouth guard into place, and Ianto climbed into the ring, rolling his shoulders as he waited for Anders to come in as well.

The rules were simple: first one who went down and stayed down lost. There was no referee, no bell to end rounds, just brutal punishment and the knowledge that your team’s reputation was on the line. They were both going to be hurting once it was over, and Ianto wondered briefly what hell Harkness was going to give them when he found out, but the thought was wiped from his mind when Anders came at him.

They closed in the middle of the ring, trading a flurry of body blows, Ianto slipping out of the way of a vicious right hook that would have sent him reeling if it had connected with his jaw. Grunting as the left slammed into his ribs, he got in a pair of blows to Anders’ sternum, backing the other man up and giving them a second to breathe.

~*~*~

Far above the fight Jack’s hands turned white as he clenched the steel railing, his eyes glued to the ring where two men were beating each other bloody.

"You could go down there and stop it, you know," Doc—John Smith—commented as he came to stand next to his friend. "These are your people, and this isn’t exactly an aboveboard way of settling differences."

"And if I do, I just reinforce for the entire division what Anders and his team already believe—that I favor Alpha team."

"Don’t you? And before you jump down my throat, Rose and I did—and still do—as well. They’ve earned the right, especially Ianto and Jake. They’ve both had baptisms by fire."

"They’ve earned every one of their ‘privileges’ and not by Jake being my lover for a time either," Jack replied fiercely. "Cardiff taught me that; they deserve to be Alpha team."

"And because of that they’ve also earned the envy of the other teams. There will always be grumblings like this, Jack, and they’ll get worse before they get better if you’re determined to pursue Jones romantically. Alpha team’s lead sleeping with the head of Field Ops… it’s going to cause a shit storm of problems for both of you, and you won’t be able to step in and protect Jones when that happens any more than you can right now."

"I know, I _know_ ," Jack growled. "This was so much easier when there were just the five of us in Torchwood; this in-house politicking is bullshit! Whatever happened to doing your jobs and not worrying about who was sleeping with whom?"

"Think of it this way," John replied softly, "with this many people, your teams have more back up—and are more likely to live long and productive lives. Isn’t that worth the extra aggravation?"

"Have I mentioned how much I hate it when you’re right all the time?" Jack chuckled after a moment. "It’s fucking annoying."

"I’ll take that as a compliment," John chuckled. "After all, I’m sure it’s a rare thing indeed to be able to prove you wrong."

"Bastard."

"I love you too." Slinging an arm around Jack’s shoulders, John watched the brutal match for a few more minutes, silently lending his friend support as Jack was forced to watch Jones fight for his team’s honor. "Come round for dinner tomorrow night. Rose misses you; we both do."

"I guess I’ve been so busy trying to create a new life that I’ve forgotten the one I already have," Jack admitted contritely. "What time should I show up?"

"Seven. We’ll make up the spare room; you’ll stay the night."

"I’ll stay the night," Jack agreed, knowing that arguing was futile and also realizing that he _wanted_ to spend the time with his friends—no, his family.

"And you’ll tell us all about your little visit to Jones once Milligan patches him up and sends him home." John laughed as Jack’s head shot around in surprise. "You forget, old friend, I _know_ you. Just… don’t get hurt again, okay? Rose and I had a hard enough time putting you back together again this time."

"He’s going to die, John," Jack admitted, his voice cracking as he admitted his worst fears. Saying the words aloud made it far too real, and the pain they brought Jack was almost unbearable. "Sooner or later, he’s going to die on me. I can’t escape that fact. But I can wring out every second of time with him that I can, be with him any way I can—even if it’s just as his friend. After all, there’s no guarantee that he’ll say yes."

"Has anyone ever turned you down, Jack?"

"You and Rose both."

"Has anyone you’ve ever really _wanted_ turned you down, Jack?" John asked again.

Jack smiled and let the silence speak for itself as he turned back to watch the match below.

~*~*~

"Son of a bitch," Jake growled as Anders got in a sucker punch. "The bastard’s going to pull out every dirty trick he knows. _C’mon, Ianto_ , wipe the fucking mat with him!"

"I think I may need more than a couple of butterfly bandages," Tom sighed. He looked over to the other side of the ring and saw that Berkley had been thinking the same thing as the man was already rifling through his field medic bag to make sure he had everything he’d need.

"Christ, this is brutal," Ross murmured, wincing as Anders’ fist caught Ianto’s cheek, splitting the skin as it landed. Ianto responded with a blow to the other man’s stomach, forcing a grunt from him as they broke off, both panting and bleeding.

"Getting soft, Jones," Anders taunted, shaking his head to clear the sweat from his eyes.

"Getting stupid, Anders—or should I say stupider." Ianto dodged the enraged punches, sliding to the side and slamming his fist into Anders’ kidney, forcing the other man to his knees.

"Done yet?"

"Not by far." Anders staggered to his feet, straightening up, only to receive a punch to the jaw that laid him out on the mat.

"Guess you were after all," Ianto said, his voice ragged as he drew in deep breaths and leaned over to rest his hands on his knees, aware of both his team and Anders’ swarming into the ring, Tom and Ross hoisting him to their shoulders while Jake whooped out his exultation.

Jack let out the breath he hadn’t even realized he’d been holding as he watched Tom and Ross set Jones down and hovered at his side as Jake lifted the ropes for him to slide through.

"Well, I’d say Alpha team’s honor has been properly defended," Doc murmured from beside his friend. "Time for me to head home to my Rose and for you to go get ready to check on your Jones, yeah?"

"Oh, stop rubbing it in," Jack groused. "Kiss Rose for me. Tell her thanks, and I’ll see you both in the morning. Dinner at your place, I won’t forget. Now get out of here, and go be a married man."

Clapping Jack on the shoulder, John walked down the catwalk and out into the main complex, leaving Jack to watch as the gymnasium cleared slowly and bide his time until he could be sure Jones was home and he could go check on him.


	19. Chapter 19

"Christ, Tom, I told you I was fine; if this is you and Martha come to check up on me..." Ianto grumbled, holding an icepack to the right side of his face as he walked toward the door. A check of the peephole had him cursing again, and he drew in as deep a breath as his sore ribs would allow, wondering what kind of reaming he was in for from Harkness. Of course, that thought drew his thoughts back to what had happened at the Hub the night Ross had been injured, and he cleared his throat as he unlocked and opened the door.

"Something I can do for you, Harkness?" he asked, the words only slightly slurred by his swollen lip.

"You can start by letting me in," Jack replied with an easy smile. "Then you can produce a couple wine glasses," he continued holding up a bottle of Chateau LaTour bordeaux, "otherwise we’d be forced to chug out of the bottle, and this wine deserves a little more respect than that, don’t you think?"

Ianto eyed the bottle and then his boss. "Yes, plus then the neighbors might call the police, thinking we were a couple of high-class winos." He stepped back, holding the door open, and ushered Jack into his apartment.

"Running for president now?" Jack nodded towards Jones’s white t-shirt which read ‘Vote Jones’. "Don’t tell me you’re one of those young politicos out to change the world and make the system work?" he teased as he handed Jones the bottle. The younger man’s only response was to snort in derision as he headed towards what Jack assumed was the kitchen, bottle in hand.

Turning his appreciative eyes from the fine form of a retreating Jones in t-shirt and black track pants, Jack took in the younger man’s condo. It was neat but looked lived in and was masculine without being overt about it. The sofa was black leather, the wing back chairs as well, and there was plenty of gleaming mission style dark cherry wood to leave an overall impression of tasteful but functional comfort. However, what caught and held Jack’s attention were the myriad of pictures that populated the fireplace mantle and above.

Wandering towards it, Jack took his time looking at the faces, recognizing Rhiannon Davies and her husband from Ianto’s funeral but not the young blonde woman with them. The children between Rhia and … Johnny, if Jack remembered correctly, bore childish resemblances to both parents, so these had to be the kids. Jack hadn’t been able to look at them at Ianto’s funeral, the loss of Steven still too raw and devastating. As for the young blonde woman, her coloring reminded Jack of Rhia, but that stubborn jaw –that was all Jones, so that had to be the younger sister Claire. There was a Tiffany framed picture of an older couple that had to be Jones’ parents. They were a handsome pair who still looked at each other with passion in their eyes. Jack could see Jones in both parents.

In Jack’s universe Ianto had never spoken of his parents save for the reference to his father being a master tailor—which had turned out to be a lie. Jack had never bothered to pry either, figuring that the younger man was entitled to his secrets. Who was Jack to judge if Ianto had wanted to fabricate his past? After all, his very existence as ‘Captain Jack Harkness’ was based on identity theft. . There were a variety of pictures of the Wild Boys in various combinations as well as one of Jake and Jones that looked much more intimate than the other ‘comrade pictures’. Picking it up, Jack chuckled. He recognized that look in Jake’s eyes; it was the ‘hurry up and finish so we can fuck’ look. Must be from when Jones and Jake were lovers then.

As he was about to set it down, Jack noticed the picture that was tucked off to the side, half hidden behind one of Uncle Ianto and his sticky fingered nephew and niece at an amusement park. Putting down the Jones and Jake picture, Jack carefully picked up the photo and studied it carefully. It was a team shot, and the Jones in this picture was much younger and almost identical to the Ianto Jones who had first come to him from Torchwood One all those years ago. If he’d looked like that when Jack first saw him in Rose’s office four months ago, Jack would have been convinced he’d finally lost his mind. The other man and two women were vaguely familiar but not because Jack worked with them. They’d been in Jones’ personnel file. His first field team assignment—Bravo team. Jones had been the only survivor of a mission gone horribly wrong. "Babies, the lot of them," Jack whispered, finger tracing over Jones’s image. "Too damned young. But then again, no one ever really gets old in Torchwood, do they?"

"I hope you aren’t expecting a snack to go with this," Ianto remarked from across the room as he emerged from the kitchen with an open wine bottle and two poured glasses. "Because, you know, just back in town, kept busy chasing my mad boss then dealing with an idiot; I haven’t had time to get to the grocer’s. I might have some crackers that would do in a pinch." He knew Jack was looking over his photos, but he had nothing to hide or to be ashamed of with them.

Carrying the glasses over, he looked at the picture in Jack’s hand and shook his head; he should have known that Harkness would ferret this one out. "That’s Bob Lansing on the left; he was the team lead. Clara Bennett’s the redhead; she was tech, and Bess Armstrong, the brunette, was the medic."

"Just wine is fine," Jack replied, accepting the glass with a smile, then turned back to the picture he still held on to. "Lansing looks about the age you are now; the rest of you, you must have been just out of university or med school or whatever. God, you’re all so young."

"Five years ago," Ianto murmured before taking a sip of his wine. "Bob was thirty, Clara twenty-six and Bess twenty-eight—I was twenty-four; they liked to joke that they were breaking in the baby—but then I suppose we’re all babies compared to you."

"I’m the most notorious cradle robber in history, and no one has a clue of it," Jack chuckled before sobering. "I learned to stop seeing ages compared to mine a long time ago, Jones. I can’t change what I am, and I can’t stop living life.

"Besides, it’s all relative, isn’t it? You have a finite set of years—ninety or so, god willing, so you cram as much living and experience into them as you can. I have the same amount of time to share with someone else when you think about it—even less because I tend to not have relationships with anyone under the age of consent and some level of maturity—be it friendship or otherwise," Jack half smiled as he took a sip of his own wine and tapped the edge of the picture frame with a finger. "They look like good people. Tell me about them?" Jack offered quietly. "I’d like to know _them_ , not their files or what I read in yours."

"Come and sit," Ianto offered, "we can bring the picture if you want; it doesn’t bother me to look at it."

They moved over to the group of seats, Ianto taking one of the wingbacks and waving Jack toward the sofa. "I’d been in the program a year and a half, out of training for six months when a slot opened up on Bob’s team—through retirement. Spent the next six months rotating in and out of the team as they tried to settle on a new member, then I got the call.

"Bob was... like your favorite teacher in school: stern but fair, an excellent field agent, by-the-book but able to adapt quickly. Clara was brilliant, could crack a program, get into a piece of tech or hack a database in nothing flat and Bess—pin-up angel from heaven who could put you in your place faster than you could blink." Ianto smiled at the memory and sipped at his wine.

"To be honest, I was scared shitless when they told me I’d been picked for the team," he admitted, "but that eased up the first time they took me out and got me pissed."

"Ahh, the traditional welcoming ritual of seeing how much booze the new guy can hold before he passes out or reveals embarrassing things about himself," Jack grinned. "I’ve been responsible for more than a few of those in my past. Lansing sounds like a good guy—I can see some of that sort of style in you. You definitely don’t play as hard and fast with the rules as I do, but you sure as hell don’t have a pylon up your ass like Anders.

"Speaking of... how’s the face? I was less than impressed at the cheap shots he took, not that I can say much seeing as how I did the same myself once upon a time. Although those were deserved and, if I’m any judge of character, purposely provoked," Jack said pointedly as he set his wine glass down and shifted from the chair to sit on the coffee table directly in front of Jones. "May I?" he asked softly, not wanting to touch Jones without his permission.

Ianta winced internally at the admission that Jack had been there watching the bout, but he admitted to himself that he had known the other man would be. "What? Hit me?" he asked, sounding amused before scooting forward in his chair, supposing that this was a small price to pay—at least until Jack touched his chin, causing a tight curl of arousal to start coiling in his gut.

"Anders hits hard," he said to distract himself, "but he’s predictable—even the cheap shots. You were harder to duck, even considering how angry you were."

Jack’s fingers brushed lightly over the already swelling and discoloring flesh on his lover’s face—and yes, as far as he was concerned, Jones was already his lover—and winced as he felt the contusions. He ran the pad of his thumb over Jones’ split lip lightly. It was already scabbed over and had puffed slightly. "Was the Wild Boys’ honor satisfied, at least?" Jack reluctantly forced himself to draw back before he did something stupid—like kiss Jones.

Ianto sighed and leaned back, both relieved and not that the gentle touch had fallen away. "I’m sure you don’t agree with that way of handling disputes, but having it go through the team leads that way makes sure that most things are resolved by the parties involved. It happens less than you think. This—Anders was spoiling for a fight; I wouldn’t be surprised if they make an official run for the Alpha spot in the near future."

"Not a chance in hell of that," Jack growled softly. "I guess this is as good a time as any to warn you that there’s going to be an email waiting for all of Field Operations when you get in tomorrow morning. And..." Jack paused a moment, collecting his thoughts so that he could explain properly.

"I have to be two people right now, Jones, whether I like it or not. Tonight I’m just the man who wants to be your lover—and yeah, I know I have to prove it, but I haven’t changed my mind at all. Tomorrow, however, Captain Harkness is going to want to see the team leads of both Alpha and Charlie to have a little discussion on what will be considered acceptable means of dispute resolution on a go-forward basis. There won’t be any fallout this time, but from now on? From now on these things will be handled my way and through my office. I don’t need my operatives unable to work in an emergency situation because they beat the shit out of each other the night before."

"Understandable," Ianto answered as he took in Jack’s comments, choosing not to respond to the reminder that Harkness was pursuing him. "Your division, your rules. Honestly, I was expecting that when you showed up here."

"Nope. I’m trying to keep my personal life personal and separate from work as much as possible. I know I can’t stop the rumors of favoritism, but I can at least try to mitigate them. I was worried about you. Oh, I had no doubt you’d be the one left standing; I know what you’re capable of," Jack half-grinned, "but I don’t like seeing you hurt, Jones. Guess you’re not the only one who wants to protect the people they care about."

Realizing he’d let this get deeper than he’d intended, Jack slid off the coffee table and returned to his previous position on the sofa, giving them both a little breathing room. Taking a large gulp of wine to calm his racing nerves, Jack pasted on an easy-going smile and changed the subject. "So, they took the new kid out and got him pissed, hunh? How sick were you the next day?"

Having long since learned that dealing with Harkness was like dealing with the chameleon exterminator—they changed to fit their surroundings—Ianto rolled with the change of topic. "Don’t ask—and of course, Bob ran us through the training grounds first thing that morning. It wasn’t a pretty sight." He smiled warmly at the memory.

"Sounds like a man I could respect," Jack laughed easily. "I could tell you some stories... but it might be weird, so I won’t."

It took a second, but then Ianto realized that Jack was talking about the other version of him, and yes, he admitted to himself, it would be somewhat odd to hear. "What happened... it was no one’s fault. Bad case of wrong place, wrong time," he said quietly. "It was sheer luck I didn’t get hit, still don’t know how that happened. One minute we were all there; the next, I was picking myself up off the ground, and they were gone."

"Owen and Tosh died because… because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time, and they knew me. Owen was trapped in a nuclear power plant, and the core went into meltdown. The room he was in was flooded with irradiated coolant. Tosh was gut shot. She stayed alive long enough to try and talk Owen through averting the meltdown, but there was a power spike. She had to listen to him die—she was in love with him," Jack remembered sadly.

"In my old universe Torchwood agents were always young because they never survived long. I wasn’t always with Torchwood, but I was with them for about a hundred years, give or take. I’ve had to put a lot of bodies into the vaults beneath Torchwood Three, bodies that had been my friends, teammates—even lovers on occasion. I’d like to be able to say it gets easier, but it doesn’t. You just learn to live with it."

"I suppose we have it easier here," Ianto mused, going to take a drink and realizing his glass was empty. Standing, he started to walk over to the wet bar. "Care for a refill?" he asked before continuing, "We’ve mostly had to deal with small bits of tech slipping through—at least until the Rift opened more."

Jack held out his empty glass with a grin. "Chateau LaTour has always been a favorite of mine. And you’ve had it easier with the Cardiff Rift, true, but it’s all relative, isn’t it? We may have had a bigger Rift, but Earth also had the Doctor, and me, and a handful of other humans who’d had their eyes opened and friendly alien races who wanted to help and/or look out for Earth, so my old universe at least had some foreknowledge and help figuring things out . Torchwood here had to do it blind until Rose showed up with John not far behind. That seems pretty damned hard to me."

"I suppose," Ianto mused, picking up the bottle and carrying it back over, refilling Jack’s glass before adding to his own. He set the half-empty bottle down on a coaster and settled back into the chair. "There’s always a difference between what you think you can handle and what you really can."

"Humans are amazing—I mean really _amazing_ ," Jack replied earnestly. "You always grow and learn and handle things that you never thought you could. You never let anything stop you; you’re always asking the questions, striving for the answers of why and how, and when you get one set of answers, you ask more questions. There’s just something so resilient, so _wonderful_ about humanity. I’m in awe of this planet. The people of Earth are absolutely fearless in their quest for knowledge—full steam ahead and damn the consequences and all that," Jack grinned.

"Are you saying you aren’t human?" Ianto asked curiously.

"I’m not sure really," Jack admitted with a shrug. "I think so, at least half human. I just never found the time to do the research to back it up. I was, or I will be, born in the 51st century. By that time humanity has used up all the natural resources on the planet and has dispersed into space to resettle on planets like New Earth. We’ve met other humanoid races, and there’s been a lot of interbreeding. There isn’t anyone left who is ‘pure human’. I grew up on the Boeshane Peninsula in an Earth colony. One of my aunts had pale blue skin and the most startling cornflower-colored eyes—god, they were gorgeous. Whether she was an aunt by marriage or by blood I couldn’t tell you. Actually, I couldn’t tell you a lot about my past—the Time Agency wiped huge chunks of my memory, so things are a bit foggy," Jack shrugged. "And there’s not a whole helluva lot I can do about it now."

"Even knowing what I know, hearing you talk about ‘will be born’ gives my mind a turn," Ianto admitted ruefully. "Time travel—it’s a fascinating subject—oh, and the lads have some sketched together ideas for your doomsday protocols that they want to show you."

"Later in the week, when things cool down a bit," Jack promised. "And just wait until I introduce Milligan to the wonderful world of chronon particles. They’re probably among the things that he can’t identify in my blood—and yes, I know he has a sample of it—it’s what makes time travel easier to take. It’s hard on a body when you do it without transportation. This," Jack held up his wrist strap, "lets me—or used to let me. The Doctor disabled that part of it to make sure I couldn’t follow him. Apparently being a fixed point around a Time Lord is like being, oh I don’t know, like being a rocking chair in a room full of long-tailed cats—they just don’t like it."

"Doc seems to have gotten over that," Ianto pointed out. "That must be the Donna part of him because she certainly enjoys being in your vicinity." He offered a slight smile at the last, careful not to let it pull at his lip.

"I think it has more to do with the fact that John is one hundred percent human despite coming from a Gallifreyan body part. He has one heart, and he can’t regenerate. Gallifreyans have two hearts, and when their cells start to die, they can be ‘reborn’, so to speak. The man you know as Doc doesn’t look anything like the Doctor I met the first time I ever ran into him and Rose. It’s a long story; maybe I’ll tell you some time."

"Tease," Ianto shot back without heat. "As bad as Jake was when we first met, offering up tidbits about the other universe but not putting out."

"I eventually put out. I promise," Jack chuckled softly "You know how you said you wanted to make sure I knew exactly who I was with before…" he trailed off in order to let Jones fill in his own blanks. "It goes both ways, Jones. I need some reassurances too before I bare all my secrets. Rose and John are the only ones who know that story, and that’s because Rose lived it with me, and John has all of the Doctor’s memories, so it’s almost like he lived it with me.. The thing is, I could stand in front of the entirety of Torchwood stark naked and not feel as exposed as that story leaves me," Jack said simply.

Ianto nodded thoughtfully at that as he sipped his wine. "Fair enough, though from what I understand about you, you’d enjoy standing naked in front of the staff—and most of us would enjoy the sight as well."

"Not all of the staff," Jack replied with a grimace, thinking of Anders. "There’s an old saying—pretty is as pretty does. Anders—not pretty! But you can see me naked any time you want; all you have to do is ask."

"Oh, now that’s just wrong, bringing up Henry and naked in the same breath," Ianto laughed. "Good thing we weren’t eating, or it would have turned my stomach."

Jack chuckled, leaning back and sinking more comfortably into the couch. "Yeah, that is a rather stomach-turning thought, isn’t it?" Taking a sip of wine, he rolled his neck and let go of the night’s earlier tension. "I prefer to think of much more palatable things. Like blue eyes and brown hair and a pissy attitude."

"Don’t let Ross know that; he might run scared."

"Nah, he’s safe; he may be pissy with blue eyes, but… they’re not the right shade of blue, I’m afraid. And he’s more snarky than pissy. Reminds me of Owen, actually."

Ianto chuckled at that and shrugged. "Well, since it seems it’s my eyes you’re speaking of, sadly, you probably won’t be seeing them for a week or so."

"I have a pretty good memory," Jack replied easily. "Besides, if they’re that swollen shut, I won’t be as worried about getting caught out ogling."

"Ahh, but someone will see you, and then I’ll hear of it," Ianto shot back, enjoying the give and take of the conversation.

"Damn, I guess I’ll have to step up that timetable to have security cameras installed in the locker rooms so I can just perv at you from the comfort of my office."

Ianto burst into laughter, only to have the sound turned into a pained groan as his bruised ribs twinged. "That sounds like harassment, boss."

Jack’s smile fell and then came back, this time a little softer and a little sadder. "Not the first time I heard that," he husked, blinking back the sharp hit of moisture. "Guess I’m just being true to my inherent nature. Then again, do I really want to risk the chance that I might see Anders naked... that’s a tough call."

The abrupt switch in the other man’s demeanor told Ianto just where he’d heard that before, and he sighed as he sobered. "Rough call, that one. Of course you might see Tommy’s tattoo, and you could chalk off the last of Alpha team."

"With all due respect, I’d rather not chance Dr. Jones’ wrath on that one," Jack chuckled. "I don’t know about this Martha, but the one I knew has one hell of a right hook when she’s pissed."

"So you said before," Ianto smiled. "And I nearly found out if she had one when we all went and got the tattoos right after we won our spot."

Jack rubbed his jaw in playful reminiscence. "Some things just stick with you more than others. I’m surprised though; they’re quite sexy. I don’t know if I’d get one myself, or if they’d even stay on me since every time I ‘die’ my cells tend to revert back to… well, revert back to the original state they were in when I became a fixed point. But on other people? Hot."

"I think it was the fact that I delivered him home plastered out of his mind," Ianto laughed. "It was a good night. And if you ever decide to try one, I can give you the name of a girl that does great work."

Jack thought about it for a moment and then shook his head. "Nah, reminds me too much of one of the ways I died during this one year that never actually existed to anyone but a handful of people. Harold Saxon, what a bastard. He was actually a Time Lord who called himself the Master. Apparently he was driven mad by looking into the Untempered Schism, whatever the hell that is—I only got the short version of the story—and was pretty much on the same page as the Daleks—except he wanted to destroy _everything_ , himself included. Suffice it to say he was bad news, and I got to spend an oh so delightful year in his company as his personal play toy slash torture victim. When he wasn’t being batshit crazy and trying to destroy everything else, he spent a great deal of time that year coming up with new and creative ways of killing me to see if I really would keep coming back. One of them involved needles. Lots of needles."

Ianto stared at him at that revelation, the bruised flesh of his face firming as his jaw tightened. "Please tell me he’s dead," he said, his voice rough.

"I think so—at least I was told he was dead. Time Lords are a tricky business though. But either way he’s not in this universe, so it’s not like I can do anything about it even if he wasn’t dead," Jack said with a casual shrug. "You get used to dying, as bad as that sounds. It’s the coming back that hurts the most."

"Then try to avoid shooting yourself to prove a point," Ianto said dryly, filling their glasses again and emptying the bottle.

"Well, if some people weren’t so damned hard headed about believing what they were told, I wouldn’t have had to do that, would I?" Jack replied mildly, quirking an eyebrow pointedly.

"Fine, just don’t do it again."

"Yes, boss," Jack replied, saluting smartly, then grinned. "It’s not like I do it on purpose, Jones, but if it comes down to me dying over someone who can’t come back, then I’ll gladly take the pain. It’s worth it—you’re worth it."

Ianto leaned forward in his chair and rested his elbows on his knees while shaking his head. "You make it damn hard to argue with you, Harkness."

Jack’s grin was entirely unrepentant. "I know," he agreed. "But if you actually stopped trying, I’d be worried. So, you told me what the Torchwood tattoo was for, why the triple galaxy and what for?" Jack knew he was fishing, and he knew he should leave and let the younger man rest, but… dammit, it had been almost impossible to pin Jones down like this, especially since he was being so easy and laid back right now. Jack couldn’t help but take advantage of it. The more knowledge he had to aid him in his little quest to woo fair Jones the better.

"Because I always wanted to know what was out there," Ianto admitted. "I got it while at university."

"It’s gorgeous. Bet you never thought you’d find out quite this way?"

"Hardly, though it’s strange that what brought this Torchwood to this point was human intervention. If it wasn’t for Lumic, Rose would never ended up here, and she made the institution what it is."

Jack burst into laughter at that. "Rose Tyler manages to find trouble even when she has to cross universes to do so! But yeah," he continued, sobering "she is one hell of a woman. And a very good friend."

"And a good boss—well, one of them."

"Yeah, John is pretty impressive too," Jack agreed. "But then again, he’s got a pretty big advantage over most people, all things considered."

"You’re going to make me say it, aren’t you?" Ianto chuckled. "You’re pretty good as well, even when you are a fuckwit."

Startled, Jack looked at the younger man. "I never even thought about me, to be perfectly honest. I... it’s what I do, who I am," he said simply.

"I suppose that means you’re a good man then—and no, I’m not trying to get out of the more-than-likely public dressing down that’s in my future."

"I’m more like a penitent man, truth be told. When Rose and the Doctor first met me, I was a time-traveling conman—I roamed time and space looking for easy marks and using my looks, charm and my umh, genetically enhanced pheromones, to do what I wanted, get what I wanted and weasel my way out of trouble when I got caught. I was anything but a good man. I was a fun man, but I wasn’t good. Rose and the Doctor changed me, for the better I’d like to think, and protecting Earth gave me a purpose and a reason to do the right thing. I can honestly say I like the man I am today. Oh, I’ve made some really bad choices, but for the most part, I can look back on my ‘after’ life and say I’ve done more good than harm with only a few glaring mistakes. Pretty good percentages so far, don’t you think?"

Ianto’s eyebrows rose at the pheromones comment, but he didn’t address it. "I’d say that’s all most of us hope for, to do more good than harm. There’s no one perfect; I learned that early."

"Well, if I’d learned that as fast as you did, I wouldn’t be here now, so I guess I can’t complain about my, shall we say, _eclectic_ past too much."

"More the better for all of us," Ianto smiled. "Though I might remind you of that if you ever say I did something stupid."

"I have a feeling that you’re going to be my biggest watchdog, Jones," Jack chuckled, getting to his feet. "And on that note, I’ve probably overstayed my welcome, as you need to get some rest before you have to face that bastard of a boss you have. I enjoyed getting to know you a little better. Maybe we can do it again some time?"

Ianto rose as well and walked with Jack toward the door. "Without the beatdown first, right?" he asked, smiling slightly as he opened the door. "And thank you for the wine, Harkness, I enjoyed it and the conversation. It was... enlightening."

Fighting the urge to lean in and kiss the man once more, Jack did give in to the temptation to touch his bruised cheek ever so lightly. "I’d say I’ll see you in the morning, but the sad fact of it is that you very likely won’t see me," he chuckled softly. "Sleep well, Jones, or at least sleep pain free."

Pulling his hand back and stuffing both of them into his jean pockets to stop himself from reaching out and holding Jones steady for a kiss, Jack backed up a pace. "Now humor a slightly paranoid man, and go back inside, and lock your door. I know you can take care of yourself, but I’m kind of old fashioned."

Dark eyebrows winged upward as much as they were able before Ianto sighed and shook his head. "And you call me a den mother," he muttered, stepping back inside his condo, and, after raising his hand in farewell to Harkness, shut the door and loudly locked it.

Jack laughed and called out so that Jones could hear him through the door. "We’ve already established that I’m the father, remember?" Turning on his heel, Jack walked down the corridor to the bank of elevators, whistling an old war ditty and feeling much more confident that he was actually getting it right this time around.


	20. Chapter 20

Captain Jack Harkness, head of Torchwood Field Operations, was in the office earlier than normal and desperately missing the military dress he used to sport like his personal shield; Doc’s polymer armor would be his next choice, but he’d foolishly not bothered to request it—and wouldn’t Jones have his head on a platter if the younger man knew that, Jack thought with a nervous chuckle as he tugged uncomfortably at the collar of the dress shirt he was wearing. The formal black suit and black dress shirt made him feel like a mortician, although from the number of comments and pick up attempts he’d received when he’d made his normal daily detour for two cups of coffee, he had to admit that his self perception might be a little off the mark on this one.

The cup of coffee that was his sat untouched on his desk as he fought to put Jack into his box so that the head of Field Ops could deliver the dressing down to two of his team leads that was more than deserved, given the events of the night before. Jones would be arriving in the next five minutes or so, habitually half an hour early to work. Anders would stagger in ten minutes after that. He couldn’t quite make the full half hour, and Jack had noted during his many mornings of silent observation from his office window which looked down into the field ops pit, more often than not Anders would shoot daggers at Jones for being better at just one more thing than he was.

Jack decided to give them fifteen minutes to read and process the new directives and then another twenty to stew. Well, if he was honest with himself, the extra twenty minutes was for Anders to stew since Jones already knew what was coming. Once the allotted time was up, he would have Donna page both men over the loudspeaker with the order to report to the captain’s office immediately. So if ‘Jack’ wasn’t locked down by then, he’d have to simply improvise, but either way, Harkness was tearing a strip off both Jones and Anders, and he’d make sure that all of field ops was aware of it happening.

~*~*~

"Christ, you look like shit," Jake said as he leaned a hip against the side of Ianto’s desk. "Tell me it at least got you laid last night."

The other man laughed roughly at that, wincing as he took a sip of his coffee, feeling the heat against his sore mouth. "Not hardly, got me a visit from the boss though," he murmured.

"Really? C’mon, spill," Jake coaxed, all smiles and speculation. Now wouldn’t that just be a total mind fuck? His exes hooking up when one of the exes had been in love with another version of the other. Talk about your twists and turns!

"Read your e-mail for the major part of it," Ianto suggested, leaving out the bottle of wine and the conversation they had had. "As for the rest, Harkness isn’t thrilled with the annual Torchwood cage brawl, so I’m expecting–" He was cut off as Donna’s voice came over the PA, effectively ordering him and Anders to Jack’s office. "Fill Ross and Tom in, would you—and have Tom have an ice pack ready; I expect my ass is going to need it after this." Getting to his feet, he squared his shoulders and headed for Harkness’ office, following Anders, who seemed determined to get there first. Of course, when he walked in, his swollen eyes widened as much as possible, and he fought the inane urge to lick his lips at the sight of the head of Torchwood Field Ops—the Boss was definitely here today.

"Sir, if you would allow me to explain," Henry Anders began, only to be cut off by Jack slamming his open hands down onto the desk.

"Did I give you leave to speak, Anders?" he hissed, glaring at Charlie’s head operative. "No? I didn’t think so." Jack was well aware that the door to his office was still wide open and that Donna had ‘accidentally’ left her PA on so that everyone in the division was getting an earful.

"Let me make this perfectly clear. I don’t give a flying _fuck_ about your excuses. _Either_ of your excuses! Whatever privileges or leeway field operatives may have been afforded in the past ceased to exist the moment I took command. Get it through your thick skulls here and now that _I_ make the rules around here, and I have more than enough field experience to back up any and all decisions I make as well as the full support and confidence of the two other heads of Torchwood. In other words, I’m fucking God, got it? Any differences you have, any _issues_ between teams go through me and me alone.

"What would happen if for some insane reason we were invaded today or the Rift decided to split wide open or we were invaded by Daleks or Cybermen or who the fuck knows what, and two of my team leads were not fit for duty because they’d beaten the _shit_ out of each other the night before in some pissing contest over I don’t give a rat’s ass what! And don’t tell me it can’t happen; I’ve lived through it—four fucking times in the past three years before coming here, not to mention the little incident of Lumic and his Cybermen and the weakening of the walls of the worlds that had some of your people jumping into my universe to lend a hand," Jack shot off, voice dripping sarcasm. "So tell me, Messrs. Jones and Anders, what would my options be with two men down? And how would you feel if I sent your people out without you and they died because of you were in no condition to lead because of your fucking pissing contest? Answer me that!

"If this _ever_ happens again, be it here or on civilian ground—and I _will_ know about it, make no mistake about that—the person or persons who instigated such a match will find themselves suspended without pay, temporarily removed from the team lead position and will face a very thorough and harsh review regarding their competence to lead a field team. Not only that, their teams will find themselves in Cardiff for a fortnight scouring the sewers for any signs of Weevils while their leads are suspended and will be made aware of exactly why they have the assignment and who is to blame. Do I make myself _clear_ , gentlemen?"

"Yes, sir," Ianto said calmly though, even with advance notice of the dressing down to come, it stung, and the logic hit close to home.

"Yes, sir," Anders grated, his jaw clenched.

"Consider yourselves both on notice that I will be paying very close attention to the interactions between Alpha and Charlie teams for the foreseeable future. Now get out of my sight. Dismissed!"

The two men turned as one, Anders walking quickly out of the office and Ianto following behind. There was a flurry of activity as those in the pit hurried to look as if they hadn’t been listening. Remaining focused straight ahead of himself, Ianto approached his desk, aware that his team was all standing there. Tom caught him by the shoulder and gently turned him around, clucking under his breath as he did so.

"It’s still there, but it looks as it’s hanging by a thread," he mused.

"Just so you know, it went over the PA as well," Ross said quietly, causing Ianto to groan to himself.

"Well, that means everyone knows what to expect if they come up against him," he sighed. "At least Anders can’t say I got preferential treatment this time."

"Which probably was part of the reason why he did it," Jake offered. "He’s fair, even when giving you a proper coring, I’ll give him that. But damned if he didn’t have some spot-on points."

"Didn’t say I disagreed with him," Ianto said, his tone mild.

"Bianca’s going to be pissed she missed it," Ross murmured.

"Somehow I think a feed will get up to Cardiff," Ianto pointed out, reaching for his coffee and grimacing when he saw it had grown cold.

"Wouldn’t put it past the same someone who left the PA on to make sure that it was being fed up to Cardiff too," Tom pointed out wryly. "He _wanted_ us to hear everything, no doubt of that."

"Yeah, and he wanted to make sure he knew we were being watched too—and there he is, standing on high glaring down at us. Guess it’s our cue to get back to it then," Ross grumbled, knocking Ianto lightly on the shoulder as he passed by on the way to his own desk.

"Well, on the plus side, Charlie team is too busy burying their noses in their desks to be glaring at us any more," Jake pointed out cheerfully. "So it could have been worse—I mean we could have had to apologize or something obscene like that!"

"Now that would have been cruel and unusual punishment," Tom shuddered.

"True that," Ianto nodded. "And go read the memo Harkness sent out you lot; it details how disputes will be handled as well as how challenges for lead team will be run. Sounds like there are going to be more games of ‘hunt Harkness’ in our future."

"Then we’ll have no worries keeping top spot, will we," Jake said with a cocky grin but nonetheless did what he was told and thereby missed the instant messaging box that popped up on Ianto’s computer.

’ _I hope your boss wasn’t too much of a bastard’_

Ianto shook his head and glanced up toward Harkness’ office before giving in and smiling. Compartmentalization, the boss had it down to a science.

’ _Well, my coffee’s cold, but he did have some good points and according to Tom, my ass is still attached to my body so I’d say he wasn’t too bad.’_

’ _Find an excuse to be outside the front door in twenty—there’s a delivery on its way for you. It’s called Bourbon Street blend, btw, and you can only get it at one place. Not telling you where though._ ’

’ _Is this a cup or a bag of beans?’_

’ _A cup. You don’t think I’d give up my little ritual, do you? Besides the barista is this hot little Norwegian number with piercings in some fascinating places—not that I’ve seen, she’s shared the information freely in hopes of reciprocation that never came’_

’ _Be careful, she might spit in your cup the next time you order out of spite—and didn’t I see a directive about not using Torchwood equipment for personal reasons? I may have to report you to my boss.’_

In his office Jack threw back his head and laughed. It looked like he was forgiven, at least.

’ _I’m not afraid of your boss—I hear he’s hot and I happen to like a good reaming every now and again.’_

’ _That’s not what I’ve heard,’_ Ianto typed back.

Jack paused at that. He’d only ever topped with Jake, and the one time he and Jones had been together, he’d topped again, so yeah, he supposed that was what Jones would expect of him. Time to change the perception but first... ’ _What, your boss isn’t hot?_

’ _As for the other—that’s not necessarily the whole truth. It simply depends on the partner. I had some issues to work through but I’ve done that now and I’ve realized that what a very smart man once said to me is true. The source of my issues wouldn’t want me to live my life like that. He’d want me to move on, find love again. He simply didn’t want me to forget him and that won’t be a problem either. He changed my life for the better and I’ll always be thankful that I had the opportunity to know and love him but it’s time for me to live my life again. And just so we’re clear on it, Jones, I want to do that with you.’_

Ianto rubbed his forehead carefully as he read the IM and glanced up toward Harkness’ office before answering. ’ _One day at a time, all right?’_ ’

Jack paused and frowned. He knew he shouldn’t have added that last part; he’d come on too heavy, damnit. But as the English were so fond of saying, in for a penny in for a pound. ’ _All right. But to clarify, if all I can ever have is friendship it’ll be enough. I like you, damnit. You make me feel 200 again!’_

The last part of the response drew a chuckle from Ianto as he read it. ’ _Glad to hear it and glad you understand—and now I need to get back to work before my hard ass boss comes down on me again.’_

Jack sighed but knew that Jones was right. It was time for him to be a hard ass again. Besides, he had a meeting in twenty minutes with John to go over some new ideas for the ‘Torchwood Zone’ as Rose had playfully dubbed the commandeered decommissioned base. ’ _Yeah, me too. I have to come up with some new hunting traps for a special project I’m working on. Don’t forget to go get your coffee—it’ll be here in,’ Jack checked his watch, ‘eight minutes.’_

’ _Gotcha, and I’m looking forward to seeing it. Jones out.’_ Ianto closed the IM and rose, pausing to talk to Tom for a moment before heading out of the pit. When he returned with the promised coffee, Jack’s office was empty, and he settled in to work, developing a broad outline for his own contribution to the doomsday protocols.

~*~*~

"Right then, we have a slight situation developing in Gunnersbury. Young lad, about fourteen, is growing scales and suddenly likes to eat his steak and kidney pie raw. Mum’s a little freaked out by it, understandable really. Anyhow, I’m going to send Dr. Jones’ team in, but I wanted you to have one of the field ops teams on stand by just in case the little blighter decides to devolve suddenly. Got to go tell Martha now. Ta!"

Jack only had time to blink as Doc blazed in and blazed out again after delivering his far too cheerful message. "Hi, John, bye, John, sure thing, John… a kid is growing scales? Jesus—why me?" Jack groaned and picked up his tablet pen and, with a few taps, pulled up the field ops roster. "And the lucky winner in the active pool is... shit. Of course it is. Donna, get the Wild Boys up here, will ya?" he called out through his open office door. He never had gotten used to using the damned intercom, and this way he also promoted that whole ‘open door policy’ that Rose was always encouraging, so... it worked.

Within minutes Alpha team was standing before Jack’s desk, looking expectant, as if they knew they were about to be released on a task. "What’s up, Boss?" Ross asked curiously.

"Something fun, right?" Jake chimed in, the lack of an alarm telling them it wasn’t critical.

"You know, I sometimes tell myself that, considering how long I’ve lived, the universe has to be done throwing curve balls my way. And then one catches me right between the eyes." Jack shook his head in amazement.

"Doc is sending in a med team to Gunnersbury and wants back up just in case things go sideways. Apparently there’s a teenaged boy who, instead of growing zits like any normal pubescent male in the 21st century, is growing scales. Oh and he’s eating his steak and kidney pie raw, much to his mother’s disgust. Fatigues and standard issue weapons with a few exotics in the SUV and carry your armor patches just in case. Take those modified PDAs of yours just in case, and try not to blow up the neighborhood; people get testy when we do that."

"Understood," Ianto nodded with a hint of a smile. "No blowing up the neighborhood." Seeing as Jack had no more information for them, the team waited until they were dismissed, turned and headed out of the office.

"I thought that was supposed to make you go blind, not scaly," Jake snickered as they walked toward the armory, signing out their weapons, and then to the garage.

"Armor on," Ianto stated. "Better to be safe."

"You lot certainly took your time." The speaker was standing just outside the door to the garage.

"Blame the Boss, Martha," Ross objected. "Not us."

"Oh, so it’s Jack’s fault, is it?" she asked, eyeing them knowingly. "Come on, you lot, we need to check this out before young Roger Leeds eats the neighbor’s cat."

"She’s so damn bossy," Jake muttered as Martha and her partner Jacob Reese climbed into their vehicle.

"And don’t I love it," Tom murmured.

"So, you two set a date yet?" Ross asked as he slapped on his armor. "No, let me rephrase. Has she told you what the date is going to be, yet?"

"We’re looking at places, so it depends on what dates are available," Tom admitted to the other team members’ amused laughter.

"You’ll make a lovely blushing bride, Tommy," Ianto snickered as Jake steered the SUV out onto the streets, following Martha’s vehicle.

"Just you lot wait, you’ll all be escorting grannies to their seats."

"Just so long as I don’t get her mum," Jake piped up. "No offense to your darling beloved but that woman is a harridan! You need to ask Jack to be one of your ushers and let him escort her to her seat. Then again, I’m not sure that even Jack’s amazing charm could win that piranha over!"

"Good thing the old bat moved to Blackpool last year; otherwise, she might ‘want to help’ more," Ross commented. "Y’know, she kind of reminds me of that exterminator we ran into in Cardiff—same friendly manner!"

"You all do realize that we’re on the same com frequency," Martha cut in, sounding more amused than anything else. "I should be pissed with you lot, maligning my mother like that."

"Shite," Tom cursed succinctly. "Sorry, MJ, I’d muzzle them if I could, but Jake might like it too much."

"Hey! I resemble that comment," Jake laughed and stuck out his tongue at the vehicle in front of him. "And no distracting the driver, you lot."

"I think Ross should have the pleasure of escorting my mother to her seat," Martha mused out loud. "And since I’m the one telling people what they do, I can make it happen."

"Have him escort Rose as well," Jacob put in, making the youngest Alpha team member yelp.

"Sounds like he doesn’t want to do that, Martha," Ianto observed. "Guess it’ll fall to Jake or me."

Jake chuckled. "I’d probably be the safest one—not that our Ianto would dream of hitting on his boss. Far too by the book, eh mate?" he teased his friend, nudging him with an elbow.

"Right then," Tom interrupted loudly, "anything more you can tell us about our scale-growing teen? Doctor Jones?"

"Unfortunately, I know as much as you do—well okay, perhaps a little more since I read the report the clinic sent us. Leeds, Roger, Caucasian male, age fourteen, DOB August 2, 1998, came into the local clinic last night with an unknown rash," Martha said through the com, as if she was reading directly from the report. "Mother, Carolyn, was visibly shaken and made comment that the patient had demanded she not cook his pie for dinner and not to bother with chips or veg—he just wanted raw steak and raw kidneys, nothing else. The on call report says that the patient presented a strange dermatitis of the skin consisting of what looked to be scales surrounding what appeared to be a bite mark. Also noted in the file was that the whites of the patient’s eyes had a decidedly yellow cast to them and the pupil appeared to be slightly elongated. On call recommended a rash cream and then as soon as the patient was discharged, completed his report and faxed it to us."

"Damn, that sounds like there’s a genetic mutation underway caused by whatever bit him," Tom whistled.

"Got it in one, lover."

"You two have your armor?" Ianto cut in.

"Why?" Jacob asked, and Ianto’s sigh could be heard over the frequency.

"Biting, genetic mutation? You want to end up scaly with a craving for raw offal?"

"It’s under control, Ianto," Martha promised him. "Scales don’t go with white satin."

"Martha, you’re making Tom drool," Ross groaned.

"Well, then I guess I shouldn’t mention that it may be white satin for the wedding, but it will be black lace for the honeymoon," Martha laughed wickedly over the com.

"MJ, you’re killing me here!" Tom groaned, banging his head on the back of the seat.

"Unmanned by black lace—it’s a sad, sad thing," Ross snickered.

"Keep it up, Jenkins," Tom threatened with a growl. "Just so you know—that antivenin made you quite the little chatterbox. I know things about you that God himself wouldn’t!"

"The hell you say!"

"Mr. Tiddlewinks," Tom answered smugly.

"Shite," Ross gasped. "Okay, shutting up now."

"Oh, I so want to know," Jake snickered.

"Bribery will get you everywhere," Tom chuckled as Ross groaned.

"Save it, boys and girls," Ianto announced as they pulled up in front of a modest two-storey dwelling on a quiet suburban street. "Martha, you can have the lead as long as our darling Roger hasn’t gone mental," he continued as they all climbed out of the vehicles.

"Oh, thank you for your permission, Ianto," she cooed, making him grin wryly.

"Just doing my job, ma’am," he replied in a horrid attempt at a Texas accent, giving her a cheeky bow as she and Jacob walked past Alpha team, making their way up the walk to the door.


	21. Chapter 21

Martha pushed the button and, when there was no answer, did it again, calling, "Mrs. Leeds?"

A scream answered her, high-pitched and terrified, one that was repeated and followed by the sound of breaking glass. Martha and Jacob leapt back from the entry, Jake moving into the space the second it was vacated, booting in the cheery, red-painted door and allowing Alpha team access.

"If it’s the boy, try to take him out with a tazer," Ianto ordered as they followed the sounds of a struggle back into the kitchen where, it seemed, Roger Leeds was trying to have his mother for lunch. Ross was the closest to them, and he leapt forward, jamming the prongs of his tazer into Roger’s exposed neck and triggering it.

The half-mutated boy screeched and twitched before dropping to the floor, Jake and Ianto instantly grabbing his wrists and ankles while Tom dug in his field pack for a sedative to keep him out.

Martha and Jacob were at Mrs. Leed’s side, checking her over and comforting the obviously hysterical woman.

Jake cursed, thanking Ianto’s foresight for ordering them into armor as the Leeds boy bit down on his arm, razor sharp teeth biting through the cloth of his uniform but leaving him otherwise undamaged thanks to the polymer sheath that coated his skin. "Damn, the kid’s got one heck of a set of chompers on ‘im," he grunted as the effects of the tazer began to wear off almost immediately and he struggled to keep his side pinned.

"Dr. Jones, you may want to check the mum for avulsion injuries," he called out, using the medical term for human bites so as not to upset the hysterical woman further. "Hurry up with that blasted needle, will you, Tommy?" he grunted again. "He’s buggering strong for a ‘roid-hopped wrestler, never mind a fourteen-year-old lad!"

Ross quickly dropped to his knees and added his own weight to helping Ianto and Jake keep the kid pinned, and damned if Jake hadn’t been correct. "This isn’t natural, even beyond the whole eating your mum thing," he muttered so that only Ianto, Jake and Tom could hear.

"Gee, what gave you that clue, Ross?" Tom grunted as he finally jammed a needle into the boy’s throat and injected him full of sedatives, breathing a sigh of relief as the thrashing slowly grew weaker, then stopped altogether. He kept two fingers on Roger’s pulse the whole time, checking his vitals and nodding to himself as they remained steady.

"What have they done to him?" the teary-faced Mrs. Leeds asked, what looked to be a normally quietly pretty countenance undone by fear and crying.

"Dr. Milligan has just given Roger a sedative, ma’am," Martha said firmly and gently. "This way he won’t hurt himself."

"What happened to him?!"

"That’s what we’re here to find out," Ianto said as he slowly released his hold on the teen’s legs. "Would it be all right if we talked while Dr. Jones looks you over? Drs. Milligan and Reese will be looking after Roger; we won’t let anything happen to him," he added gently as he spoke to the distraught woman.

"All—all right," she nodded.

"Why don’t you just sit here," Martha offered, patting a kitchen chair. "That way you can watch your son as well."

Carolyn Leeds did as she was directed, and Ianto stayed quiet, letting Martha calm her as she began to check for any bites or scratches on her skin.

"Mrs. Leeds," he began once the woman had regained some color, "does Roger have any pets?"

"He’s quite interested in reptiles," the older woman replied slowly, not quite paying attention to the question as she watched her son worriedly.

"Does he have any as pets?"

"They come and go; poor things are so sensitive to the cold. He keeps the cages in his room."

"Would you mind if we took a look around Roger’s room? It might help us find out what’s happened to him."

"I—of course."

"Thank you, Mrs. Leeds," Ianto said, giving her a warm smile. "We’ll do our best to track it down and get your Roger back to you."

This started a fresh spate of tears, and Ianto, Jake and Ross all quickly ducked out of the kitchen, climbing the narrow stairway and pushing open doors until they found the teenager’s room.

"Mrs. Leeds says Roger got an egg from his science teacher, part of a project," Martha reported from downstairs after a few moments.

"Damn," Ross cursed. "You think we ought to let the boss know so he can send out someone to check the teacher?"

"I don’t think we’d better; I know we’d better," Jake said slowly as he turned around a couple of empty terrariums to reveal that the glass had been broken into, not out of. The third empty terrarium had the opposite problem. Glass had exploded everywhere, and there were droplets of blood on the desk as well as the regurgitated remains of what looked like it had possibly been an iguana. The most damning evidence of all was a gaping hole gnawed through the outside wall of the house. "I have blood and the corpse of an iguana," Jake called out quietly to his team mates. "And a hole in the wall. It looks like patient zero has made a jail break after making a snack of the other inmates."

"Ianto, I need the remains and the blood samples. Don’t touch anything!" Martha demanded from downstairs. "Tom, can you?"

"Best that Jacob and I stay with Roger, just in case," Tom countered. "Jake, maybe you could come down and make Mrs. Leeds a cuppa so that Martha can do her job?"

Jake looked at Ianto for confirmation and, once he got the nod, reholstered his weapon while heading out the door and downstairs so that Martha could come up and take her samples.

"Right then," Ianto murmured, taking in the scene and getting Roger’s school and teacher’s names before radioing in to explain the situation. "Donna, put me through to Harkness, will you?" he asked, waiting for her to do so before continuing.

"We have Roger Leeds in custody and contained; the med team has looked after his mother—who he was trying to eat, by the way. We’re still not certain of the cause of his mutation, but it seems to track back to an egg he got from his science teacher, a Ms. Jackie Witham. Whatever bit him seems to have chewed a hole in the house and escaped, so once transpo for Roger arrives, we’re going after it, but we’re going to need other personnel to check on the teacher and see if any other eggs were given out and where she got them. Could be an innocent mistake, could be more."

"Well shit," Jack cursed in his office. "Bravo is in Cardiff this month, and Charlie is on their way to Scotland—Nessie is acting up again. Looks like I’ll have to send Delta out. Delta team better steer clear of the cafeteria food, or there’ll be hell to pay," he grimaced. "Fine, just be careful okay? I don’t want to fend off John when he decides he wants to see what you turn into. Harkness out."

"He was joking, right?" Ross asked, a little too hesitantly for it to come off as a joke. "Doc wouldn’t actually want to let the transformation complete?"

"This is Doctor John Smith we’re talking about, yeah?" Martha asked, having come in at the tail end of the conversation. "Damn straight he’d want to! He’s got an unhealthy fascination with xenobiology."

"He was kidding, Ross," Ianto chuckled, shaking his head. "And don’t terrorize him, Martha, or I’ll keep Tom late."

"Try it and I’ll be the only Jones left in Torchwood when I’m done with you," Martha growled. "I have plans for my fiancé that don’t involve him staying late tonight."

"Depends how long it takes up to track down whatever the hell it was that bit Roger," Ianto countered. "We can’t have it running around loose terrorizing the neighborhood."

"That’s different. That’s work, not Jones’ Justice," Martha growled.

Ianto smirked at her. "Then don’t terrorize Ross, Dr. Jones; that’s our job." He glanced out the window and saw an ambulance with a discreet Torchwood emblem worked into the caduceus and nodded to himself. "Looks like your transpo’s here; anything we can scan to try and get a read on where this bugger went?"

Ross looked up from where he’d been diligently studying the cage that had been exploded outward. "Looks like there are some scales here, a bit of blood too. That should be enough."

"Excellent. Get it in your PDA, then transfer it to ours."

"On it," Ross muttered as he returned to what he was doing.

"Martha," Tom’s voice cut through the com channel. "The paramedics have just come in, and we need to get Roger loaded. Perhaps you and Jacob can take Mrs. Leeds to the hospital in your vehicle," he suggested as tactfully as he could. The ‘paramedics’ were big, burly and properly trained in immobilizing and subduing a variety of different aliens or aliens ‘wearing’ humans. They, too, wore Torchwood armor patches, carried modified tazers and were trained to do whatever necessary to keep the ‘patient’ contained and sedated in the back of the reinforced ambulance. Which meant that sending Roger’s mum in the ambulance with him, especially after almost being afternoon tea, would be a very _bad_ idea.

"But I want to go with Roger!" Carolyn Leeds demanded; her strident voice was clearly heard in her son’s upstairs bedroom without the benefit of the com patches.

"Damn, that’s my cue. Send me the readings too, Jenkins, and see if you can’t bag a sample for me to take to the hospital. I’ll send Jacob up to fetch it," Martha instructed as she all but bolted back downstairs to deal with the distraught woman.

"Don’t relish Martha or Jacob that trip and explanation," Ross commented as he fiddled with his PDA. "Can you pass me a couple of petrie dishes and some sterile swabs, Ianto? I think I have enough for bio samples for Martha as well as what I needed for us."

Fifteen minutes later both the Leedses and the medical teams drove off, and the house was secured. Alpha team was hot on the trail of their escaped alien, following the scant blood trace through the neighborhood until...

"Oh, fuck me," Jake muttered, staring at the torn storm runoff grate.

"Sorry, not my type," Tom murmured as he knelt, examining a trace of blood on the metal and running his medical scanner over it. "Same source, our little friend has gone to ground here."

"Ross, get a download of the system in this area; Jake, bring the SUV and block this entrance—just leave room for us to get out. Tom, we’ll check inside and see if there’s any clue as to which way it’s gone."

The men nodded, all business as they went about their tasks, Tom and Ianto having ascertained a general direction to head in by the time Jake had the SUV situated and Ross had found and downloaded the plans to all their PDAs.

"Right then, heads up. Catch it alive if we can, as that might be the easiest way to cure poor Roger," Ianto said as they jogged off, the light from their torches gleaming against the damp walls, the splashing of their footsteps echoing around them.

"That’s if it doesn’t catch us first," Ross muttered. "Did you see the scoring on that grate? It’s got to be growing at an exponential rate."

"Who’s afraid of the crocodile in the sewers then?" Jake chuckled wickedly.

"Alien crocodiles whose bite causes humans to undergo a metamorphosis into the bloody crocman," Tom interjected grimly. "That’s one hell of a survival mechanism, if you ask me. Makes you wonder how it got here and if there are any more. I’m actually kind of grateful that Delta got to go talk to the teacher."

"If she’s still human," Ianto commented idly, most of his attention on their surroundings and the faint trace of blood on the tunnel wall that their PDAs were tracking. "Branching up ahead, trace goes to the left."

"Of course down the more disgusting of the choices," Tom sighed.

"What, did you expect a walk through the High Park Rose Garden? We’re in a bloody sewer; of course we get to slog through all the nasty, disgusting stuff that flows into the storm drains of London," Jake groused. "I almost think I’d rather slog through a waste treatment plant!"

Tom merely rolled his eyes and looked at Ianto. "Do you ever feel like the parents of the children from hell?" he asked his team lead conversationally. "It’s enough to turn a man off the thought of procreating entirely—especially when one factors in the genes from one’s future mother-in law."

"Do you plan on telling Martha that?" Ianto asked, sounding amused even as he scanned the area ahead of them.

"Would I really be allowed into Torchwood let alone on a field ops team if I was suicidal?" Tom countered with a small chuckle which was abruptly cut off as his foot collided with something soft and squelchy. Shining his torch downwards, he fought the instinctive urge to gag at what he found.

"Looks like our killer croc has moved from storm grates to live prey," he commented distantly as he crouched down to get a better look at the bloody mass of flesh and bone. "Dog, I’d say, and not the kind you can punt over a fence for fun. This one looks to be at least forty kilos so I’d say one of the bigger breeds—German Sheppard, Dalmatian, that sort."

"How the hell did it get down here?" Ianto muttered, looking around them.

"Trail gets fainter up here," Jake said quietly, pausing at another branch in the sewer.

"Damn thing may be hunting," Ross suggested. "Who’s to say it didn’t lie in wait by an open grate and snap?"

"If it’s big enough to take this down, it’s too big to hunt through a sewer grate," Ianto said, shaking his head.

"Could have wandered down here in search of food if it was a stray," Tom added as he stood, wiping his hands on his fatigue pants as he did. "Either way, it’s getting bigger, meaner and hungrier. We’d best take it down before it starts hunting _us_."

"People go to Africa to go on safari," Jake muttered, "we get to slog through the storm sewers."

"And you love every minute of it," Ianto countered, chuckling wryly.

The team followed the trail down another pipe, this one a narrower dimension that had them crouching slightly to walk. "Movement up ahead," Ross reported as he studied the scanner strapped to his forearm. "Too big to be rats."

Ianto looked around the pipe, his eyes narrowed as he assessed the situation. Their movements would be hampered in here, but so would the alien’s, and if necessary, they could pull back to the main branch and keep it pinned down at this position.

"Move out," he ordered, and the four men trotted forward in loose formation, their automatics held at the ready.

"There you go, getting all butch again, Jones," Jake whispered, more to relieve the tension than anything else. "Too bad it doesn’t work on me anymore." Ross groaned quietly while Tom began to chuckle, only to have it turn into a quiet curse as a thought that had been percolating away in the back of his mind came to fruition.

"Shit, Ross, do you remember if those blood samples revealed what sex our killer croc is?"

Ross dropped his eyes from scanning their murky surroundings to his PDA, quickly scrolling through the data display until it got to the words that left a cold pit in his stomach. "High levels of estrogen. And testosterone. Son of a bitch—it’s asexual!"

"In other words if we don’t find it and stop it, we’re going to be up to our asses in killer alien crocs," Ianto murmured as they rounded the corner and saw a large bulk up ahead—one that whipped around at the slight splashing of their approach and lumbered toward them, moving faster than something of its size should be able to.

The team immediately started laying in a suppressing fire though most of the bullets bounced off the dull grey scales of the beast.

"Fall back to the corner; try to keep it contained," Ianto ordered before relaying an update to the base.

"Not good," Jake panted, as he watched the thing keep coming, "It’s like it’s got armor plating!"

"Jones, you copy?" Jack’s voice came through the com patches, his tone indicating he was in full commander mode. "I want you all topside now! That thing is a nocturnal predator. Delta team found out the hard way with our school marm. Crack your halogens, and haul ass outta there. If you’ve pissed it off, like I’m sure you have, it’ll probably follow you, but I don’t want you where it has the advantage."

"Copy," Ianto responded, waving the others back, the team moving in a rolling pattern, so that three of them were always covering the rapidly approaching alien, the increased intensity of their lights not seeming to do much to deter it.

"Suggestions for stopping it before it gets topside and loose?" he asked, aiming toward the tooth-lined maw.

"Blow it up?" Ross asked, backing past them and taking his position as Tom began to move.

"Got some incendiaries, a couple of frags, a percussion and some flash bangs—not that those will probably work," Jake offered immediately. "So pick your poison. I even have timers, but I’ll need cover in order to set ‘em right so we don’t get caught in explosions."

"Do I even want to know why you’re walking around with fragmentation devices on you?" Tom groaned. "I am _not_ picking shrapnel out of anyone’s arse this mission—once was enough. Got it?"

"Let’s just hope we can say the same for teeth," Ianto said. "Hit it with a percussion, then a frag when we get to the next bend," he added as Tom rolled back, leaving him and Jake closest to the croc.

"Roger that," Jake muttered as he ran his fingers down the bandolier he wore across his chest, finding the percussion grenade by touch alone. "You realize this might just piss it off more than it already is at the moment, yeah?" he asked his team lead, not really expecting an answer. "Hit the muffle on your head gear, lads; I’m making sure this sucker is _loud_!" Jake warned as he twirled the dial and hit the timer.

"Fifteen seconds," he warned and then began to softly count down. When it reached ten, he tossed it and signaled a rapid fallback action. "Haul arse you lot!"

The detonation sounded just as the team cleared the juncture of the pipes, echoing loudly even through their dampened hearing. All was quiet for a second before a loud flailing and splashing sounded, disorganized at first but then with more purpose.

"Hit it with the frag," Ianto ordered as Ross confirmed that the alien was still alive. "Then fall back to the SUV, more cover there."

"Tazers worked on Roger and his teacher," Tom reminded them. "If all else fails, we can hit it with the AED."

"And just who is going to slap the paddles on it?" Ross asked archly as they backtracked toward their vehicle, slipping through the narrow spaces on either side of it and taking up positions, opening fire again when the croc came into view.

"Where’s a fucking souped up cattle prod when you need one?" Jake grumbled as he hit the detonator, causing the fragmentation grenade to explode and send metal shards rocketing around the enclosed space of the tunnel. The ‘croc’ bellowed in pain and went down but didn’t stop thrashing or trying to get up.

"Fuck, figures it would be a persistent bugger. What now, oh fearless leader?" Ross asked in frustrated worry. "We can’t let that thing loose. School’s about to get out, and all those lovely school children will be fucking canapés to this thing."

The croc gained its feet and surged forward, slamming forward into the SUV, making it rock on its wheels even as the team emptied clip after clip into it while the rows of sharp teeth mangled the bonnet and engine of their vehicle.

"Fall back," Ianto ordered, his tone grim. "Load phosphorus rounds, and when I give the count, aim for the gas tank; we’re going to roast the fucker."

"You can explain to Harkness and Rose why we’ve demo’d another SUV," Ross muttered even as he followed orders, knowing that it was the only way to be sure.

"Hey, do you think alien crocs taste like gators? Would that make them space chicken, you think?" Jake chortled, trying to alleviate the tension with a bit of humor.

"Don’t you dare volunteer to find out," Tom warned direly.

"Don’t think Harper would like it if you suddenly developed a taste for his raw liver," Ianto nodded, glancing at each of the others to assure himself they were locked and loaded. The SUV shuddered as the croc closed its jaws around the bonnet again, shaking the entire vehicle as it did so.

"All right, let’s take it down. Three, two..." When he reached one, all four men fired, their bullets tearing into the gas tank, igniting the liquid within and causing the whole SUV to go up in a ball of flames.

"Didn’t Rose say the next one would come out of our pay?" Ross sighed, looking at the conflagration, his nose wrinkling as the smell of roasting meat reached them.

"Rose isn’t the one that scares me," Tom muttered. "Women get pissed, yell at you, make you buy them things and then tote it out whenever it suits them, but that’s about it. Harkness, on the other hand, now his reaction scares the piss out of me. The man is diabolical!"

"No kidding," Jake agreed. "Did you hear about his improvements to his ‘training exercise’? The ones that Charlie team got to be the first to enjoy? They came back looking like walking wounded, and he didn’t have a scratch on him and was offering to take them out for a pint!"

"That camper van," Ross groaned. "He’s going to get us one, isn’t he?"

"If he does, we take it," Ianto said. "We kept it from getting loose. We did our jobs; that’s what you have to remember." After he spoke, he keyed his com patch and spoke to Harkness. "Target’s down; we’ll need cleanup here."

"So how much will I have to sweet talk the president when word of this gets out?" Jack asked dryly over the com even as he buzzed Donna and passed on instructions to get a cleanup crew out to Alpha’s coordinates. "Do you need to stick around to secure the site, or can you head back to base?"

"Clean up’s minor," Ianto reported before sighing. "We need transpo though; the croc ate ours."

"This had better be the Torchwood idea of a ‘my dog ate my homework’ excuse as opposed to what really happened," Jack replied, sounding anything but amused for once. "If you scratched the paint job or dented a bumper, then give it to me straight."

"The alien was chewing on the engine, and we blew the SUV up to stop it from getting loose," was the flat-voiced answer. "Blew up as in total loss."

"I see," Jack said tonelessly, hiding his groan by sheer force of will. Oh yeah, he was going to have to grovel to an entirely different Jones in order to explain this one away—Harriet Jones. "I expect a full report on my desk by the end of your shift today. I have no doubt I’ll have some explaining to do in the very near future. Good thing I can survive a nuclear blast and incineration. I have a feeling I’ll be on the receiving end of both sometime in the next twenty-four hours. Harkness out."

"Umm—is it just me or did anyone else expect a little more of a... reaction?" Ross asked hesitantly.

"Give it time," Ianto sighed. "It was my order, and I’ll stand behind it."

"And we’ll stand behind you," Jake promised. "It was a good call."

"Better than letting that thing out," Tom nodded.

"Which Harkness knows, he just has to deal with the bureaucratic bullshit that we’re protected from," Ross pointed out. "You should hear Lisa come in after a bad day in accounting—she’s livid at times. She’s told her manager point blank that she’s not to work on our expense sheets because she’s sleeping with me and she’d rather not be forced to kill her significant other because of the headaches his team might cause her.

"I actually don’t envy Harkness this at all. I mean, think about who he has to smooth this over with. President Jones! That’s enough to make any man shrivel up, even someone with his libido!"

"Ewwww! Ross, did you have to? I’ve slept with the man, and I know what he looks like naked. Picturing that gorgeous slab of beefcake with _her_ is enough to scar me for life!"

"She’s not so bad," Ianto murmured, turning his gaze to the small crowd of people who were slowly making their way over to them, staring wide-eyed at the burning SUV and partially collapsed storm sewer.

"All right, let me go smooth things over with the locals. Keep an eye on the entrance in case our croc can survive incineration, will you?"


	22. Chapter 22

Two hours later they were back at the base, and three hours after that, Ianto sent his full and complete report, including the medical team’s debriefing, off to Harkness’ e-mail, then sat back in his chair and rubbed his stiff neck. "I hate fucking reports," he muttered under his breath.

"Not as much as I hate reading them," Jack intoned softly, right next to Jones’ ear, chuckling when the younger man started. It wasn’t every day you could sneak up on a member of the Wild Boys, and Jack savored the victory. "The rest of your team clocked out over an hour ago, Mr. Jones. Is that hard ass boss of yours working you too hard again?"

"He wanted the full report before the end of shift." Ianto glanced toward the time read-out on his computer and shrugged. "Suppose it’s a little late, but hopefully it covers what he’s looking for."

"I’m sure it does. In fact, I have no doubt he will be reading it as soon as he gets home tonight and preparing his ass for a chewing over his breakfast meeting with the president. Lovely lady—has a set bigger than mine, and that’s saying something. So, I have this bottle of whisky in my office and these fancy assed glasses that Donna insisted I need which need a christening. Can I interest you in a drink? Considering the day you’ve had and the report that the hard ass made you write, it’s the least I can offer," Jack asked casually, hoping like hell he wasn’t making a total fool of himself as he did so.

Ianto chuckled softly as he rubbed the bridge of his nose. "A drink sounds damn good about now, so sure, I’ll take you up on it." He stood, rubbing the small of his back, and glanced over at Jack. "Any word on the Leeds boy?"

"Under twenty-four hour supervision in a sealed facility. John headed over there as soon as Martha called in that he was secure. Mrs. Leeds has been treated, sedated and is being kept for observation. The poor kid was an accident, if you can believe it. He was actually supposed to have returned the egg to the teacher a week ago before it hatched. Unfortunately the kid got sick and had to be quarantined. The teacher was going nuts because she’d been using the biology class as a quick and dirty way of getting her brood incubated fast in order to get them off this rock—she and her mate apparently crash-landed here in that meteor storm last month. He died; she didn’t, so she wanted her brood to survive. That species has some limited shape-shifting ability, so we saw human female when she was in fact human-reptilian hybrid female, and she used it to her advantage, pretending to be a substitute science teacher at a nearby school—Roger’s school.

"Unfortunately Mrs. ‘Gator couldn’t foresee Roger Leeds kissing Suzy Mitchell behind the bleachers and catching mono. Nor could she predict that our atmosphere would have an adverse effect on the newly hatched young, mutating it into an alien version of an urban legend. She certainly didn’t count on Torchwood interfering. We have the rest of her eggs in cryo, and I’ve been in touch with a third-party intermediary who will see that she and her eggs get escorted off our planet as soon as he can get here. She’s in custody for now, and—provided she cooperates in helping to reverse young Roger’s ‘alien acne’—she’ll get to keep her hatchlings."

"Can she do anything to help him?" Ianto asked curiously as they walked up to Jack’s office. "Does she control the transformation?"

"Nope, but she does understand her species’ physiology better than we do, and we’ve provided her one helluva carrot to cooperate. There’s nothing more impressive than a mother’s need to protect her young," Jack responded as he let them into his office and headed to the credenza to grab a couple of the tumblers and the cut crystal decanter, carrying it over to the small sitting area by the wall of windows that looked down on the pit. "I don’t mind using that instinct to our advantage if it helps to save the kid. After all, he’s got a mother too, and she’s terrified of losing her little boy as much as the lizard queen is of losing her eggs."

"I can’t blame her for that," Ianto commented as he sat and took the glass Jack offered, swirling the amber liquid around it as he thought. "Though keeping her brood closer to her rather than giving them to hormonal teenagers who might or might not look after them doesn’t seem very rational."

"Who knows how her species does things," Jack pointed out as he leaned against the window next to Jones’ seat. "Could be that they have others incubate their young—wouldn’t be the first time I’ve heard of that. Chances are she was simply acting on instinct. However, at this point I don’t really give a damn why she did what she did, just so long as she fixes it."

Ianto nodded as he took a drink and sighed at the smoky flavor. "Point. Plans to retcon them both once he’s better?"

"Hell yes. Last thing we need is to have that kid remembering how he almost ate his mother and having the mother remember her son was a teenaged crocodile man. No, it’s better for all concerned if the Leeds forget this entire experience. Roger will have had a bad case of mono, and Mrs. Leeds will just be so exhausted that she’ll have lost a chunk of time."

"All neat and clean and tied up with a bow—except for you having to grovel to the president about our destroyed SUV." Ianto took another sip of his drink, his expression turning solemn.

"Good thing she thinks I’m a handsome devil." Jack grinned down at the younger man. "I’ll probably get a slap on the wrist and a stern dressing down, but other than that I should come out unscathed except for maybe having her extract a promise or three to act as official escort at some or other snore-inducing diplomatic event that requires me to put on a black tie," Jack shuddered.

Ianto snorted at that and shook his head. "Well, let me know if you want me to have Tom take a look at your ass when you’re done; he’s a fair hand at making sure they’re still attached."

"With all due respect to the eminently efficient Doctor Milligan, I think I’d rather not expose my ass to any further members of the Wild Boys. Two has been quite sufficient, thanks all the same," Jack replied dryly as he leaned forward to refill their drinks.

"Understandable, he’d probably choose to keep it that way as well, and I _know_ Ross would." Ianto chuckled at that. "Sometimes I wonder if he’s sublimating."

"Nah, that boy is as straight as they come," Jack chuckled. "Trust me on this one, if he were sublimating, I could make him want me in a heartbeat. But he’s 100% heterosexual male, and Lisa is a lucky young woman."

"I’m not arguing that in the least; Jake and I have a wager going that the two of them will make it to the altar before Tom and Martha—of course at this rate, Jake and Owen could beat them both." Ianto leaned back in his chair and crossed his legs, one ankle resting on the other knee.

"God, I’d almost be afraid of that—I mean, would you be the best man or the maid of honor at that wedding?" Jack teased, laughing in amusement as he remembered a certain blonde-haired, stacked and ultra feminine version of the man sitting so comfortably in his office.

"My legs look like shite in a skirt, so that leaves out the maid of honor," Ianto pointed out. "Whoever goes first, the rest of us will put on morning coats and act properly sober at the wedding—the bachelor’s do, however, is another matter."

"Gonna get him a girl to remind him of what he’s not missing?" Jack sniggered.

"Oh, that’ll go over well," Ianto chuckled before taking another drink. "A drag queen perhaps..."

"And here I thought it was Jake that wore the tiara…"

"Somehow I don’t think it comes with a sparkly skirt."

"No, but I know someone with a sequined kilt that I can probably borrow for him. Does that count?"

"For our Jake? Sequined codpiece is more like it," Ianto snickered.

Jack guffawed. "Union Jack in Swarovski… oh, no, wait, the Torchwood symbol!"

Ianto sprawled back in the chair, laughing uproariously. "And paste on ones on his tattoo."

"Don’t forget the pasties; he’s going to need them too," Jack grinned, thoroughly enjoying Jones’ reaction along with what Jack thought was a slippery slide towards intoxication. It was a side of the younger man he hadn’t seen and was thoroughly enjoying himself, but it did make Jack wonder when was the last time Jones ate if a couple of glasses of whisky—albeit old and potent whisky—got him that loose that fast.

"Christ, he’d kill us—hell, Harper would kill us, and you know those doctors, devious sods." Ianto looked down at his glass, doing a somewhat bleary doubletake at it. "Shite, I really should have eaten something today," he muttered just as the cell phone at his hip rang.

Holding up his glass to Jack in order to get quiet, he scrabbled for the phone with his free hand. "Hullo? Linda? Shit! Linda, right. Fuck, I’m sorry, work ran late and—right, right, I should have called I know, I’m sorry. How about I make it up to you Friday? Eight for dinner? See you then."

"I take it I ruined your plans for the evening?" Jack asked quietly, an uncharacteristic brand of jealousy burning low in his gut. "Sorry about that." But he wasn’t, Jack thought broodingly, and part of him was already plotting ways to keep Jones late again on Friday—not that he’d follow through with them—just to keep Jones with him and away from this Linda person. "At least let me get some order in; after all it my fault you haven’t eaten all day."

"Not your fault that a mutant croc decided to farm her babies out, is it?" Ianto asked, quirking a grin. "Not too important to me since I forgot about it either, I suppose, but yeah, food would be good just so I don’t total my car on the way home."

"Well, I think I can arrange to have a certain hard assed boss give you a ride home. After all it wouldn’t do to have you total two cars in one day, and besides, it’s his duty to take care of his people, as well as his privilege. So, how do you feel about Hunan?"

"Spicier the better," Ianto responded promptly before frowning. "Though I thought you had reports to read—mine in particular."

"I don’t think a late night will kill me," Jack replied dryly, "at least not permanently. Spicy it is, then."

Walking over to his desk, Jack picked up the phone and dialed the number of his favorite little hole in the wall Asian restaurant, greeting the person on the other end in Mandarin and rattling off a quick, and spicy, menu for two. After a few more pleasantries Jack hung up the phone with a satisfied grin. "There, should be here in about half an hour. Think you can hold out until then?"

"I’ll try to manage," Ianto answered before straightening up and glowering at Jack. "And stop joking about it."

"Joking about what?" Jack grinned. "Reading the reports or dying? I’ve already died twice this week just from helping Doc with a couple of things, and those nightmares that the president sends my way for light reading could dent an armored vehicle if dropped on it."

Every muscle in Ianto’s body tightened, and he set his drink on the floor before standing. "You what?" he asked, taking the small number of steps necessary to bring him into Jack’s personal space. "What the fuck are you on about, Harkness?"

"What? He had a couple of things that needed a trial run, and I volunteered," Jack said, shrugging his shoulders. "This way no innocent field operatives get hurt in the line of duty, and I get to take care of my people; no harm, no foul."

"And what odds do you want to lay that these fucking things were stages before where they would have gone near any of the ops?" Ianto growled. "Doc is a genius, but he’s a fucking kid in a candy store with his shit; you especially should know that by now!

"Jesus, fuckwit!" he ranted, spinning away and beginning to pace. "What, when he gets his damn vortex manipulator together, are you going to jump into it to try it out as well?"

"Well, yeah," Jack asked, looking at Jones oddly, "of course I am. Like I’d let anyone else take a chance like that."

"And what if you don’t come back? What if you _can’t_ come back?" Ianto demanded.

"Not like anyone’s life would be unduly interrupted." With a shrug of his shoulders Jack picked up the decanter and poured himself another drink. "Don’t get me wrong, I’ve made a home and a life for myself here, and I definitely don’t want to leave certain people behind, but I’m not going to risk the lives of the people I love when I know I can survive when they wouldn’t."

Ianto’s jaw dropped, and he stared at the taller man while his complexion turned ruddier. His mouth worked as if he were trying to find the words he wanted to say before he finally blurted out, "You are such a fucking asshole fuckwit! Christ, what are we supposed to do with fucking Captain Jack suicide-wish Harkness? Do I have to tie you up and sit on you to keep you in one piece?"

"Last time I checked I didn’t have a suicide wish, at least not anymore," Jack replied slowly, staring at Jones curiously. "This is my home, Jones, my _family_ , and I’m going to protect it and my loved ones however I can. However, I’m more than happy to let someone tie me up and have their way with me if they want to—and I trust them enough to let them."

"Throwing yourself through a time vortex is _not_ protecting anyone!" Ianto growled, poking Jack in the chest with one finger. "And neither is playing fast and loose with Doc’s toys. I swear, Harkness, if I hear once more that you’ve let him kill you, _I’ll_ deal with it! Do. You. Understand?"

Jack’s eyebrow quirked up at the younger man’s rant, but he managed to keep a perfectly straight face. "Yes, dear," he repeated solemnly. "I promise you won’t hear of it once more."

"If it happens, Harkness," Ianto snapped, stepping closer until he was nose to nose with Jack, then spinning away. "Christ, you make me crazy!"

"A feeling I know only too well," Jack’s reply was raw and hungry despite his attempt to keep things on an even keel. The months of wanting and not having played havoc on his senses, watching and always yearning for what he’d had only the most tantalizing taste of, making him crave, no, _need_ so much more.

Jack started forward, intent on spinning the younger man around, pressing him against the glass of his office window and feasting after the months of famine, and so it took long seconds to realize that the jangling he heard was not his frayed nerves scraping along his libido but was, in fact, his phone ringing. " _Fuck_!" Walking over to the desk, Jack snatched up the phone and growled, "Harkness—this had better be good!" A few seconds later he was slamming the phone down, hands still shaking with pent up emotion, the cold realization of just how desperate his need for the younger man was becoming far too clear in his mind.

"Food’s here, I’ll be right back," Jack declared, thanking whatever fate was smiling on him for the distraction and a reason to flee his office before he could do or say anything else that might make Jones run far and fast in the opposite direction. As he took his sweet time getting to the lobby, Jack came to the decision that Jones’ report would wait until morning. After he saw Jones safely home, he was going out and getting shit faced and finding someone, anyone, who would take the edge off before he did something that Jack knew he’d regret.

"Wha—" Ianto was speaking to an empty door, and he took a deep breath, blowing it out and wondering where the hell all that had come from. "Christ," he muttered, rubbing his forehead and shaking his head. Harkness died, and he came back; it was simple really—but it also wasn’t; it didn’t matter if he came back; he shouldn’t have to die, not for stupid reasons.

Muttering to himself, he paced around the room, slowly calming until he was sure he had his temper under control again. He glanced at his drink, then poured himself some water from the pitcher on Harkness’ desk, guzzling it down, grimacing slightly at the lukewarm temperature but knowing it was better than alcohol at the moment.

Christ, he needed to get laid.

It took the entire trip down to pay for and collect the food as well as the ride up for Jack’s hands to stop shaking and for him to beat the want back into submission, at least for a little while, but he’d been pushed too far tonight, and he knew he’d be out on the prowl the moment he dropped Jones off. Jack needed hot, dirty and animalistic; he needed to fuck someone, or even a few someones, stupid tonight, and that was exactly what he was going to do. Too much abstinence was making him a danger to Jones and menace to his staff. Jack knew if he didn’t blow off some steam then he’d slip up sooner rather than later, and the stakes in this particular game were far too high for him to take that chance. Taking a deep breath and putting on the most urbanely bland mask that he could muster, Jack stepped into the room, bags in hand. "Chow time! Smells great, hope you’re hungry."

"Harkness," Ianto said when Jack walked back into his office, looking as if he was on the edge. "Look, I’ll apologize for the way I came off but not for what I said. You come back from the dead, fine, but putting yourself into situations where you’re going to get killed for no good reason? I’m not going to stop coming up against you on that one."

"Got it, no putting myself in stupid situations, and be prepared to have you riding my ass when I do something stupid," Jack agreed with an easy smile that didn’t quite burn away the need in his eyes as he raked them over Jones’ face. "Got you Firecracker Beef and spicy noodles, had them amp up the chilies a bit since you like it hot and spicy."

"Fine, whatever," Ianto sighed, knowing he hadn’t gotten through to Jack at all. Harkness was going to do what he wanted when he wanted, and that was all there was to it.

"I’ll take it under advisement, and I will be cautious and prudent in my decisions," Jack relented as he sat across from Jones and opened his ginger beef, only to toy with it, distracted and appetite long gone with the turn of events. "I have no doubt that you meant everything you said, Jones, and I apologize for not only my idle comment but the fact that I caused you any aggravation; that wasn’t my intent."

"Christ, Harkness, you aggravate me, and I aggravate you; it’s what we do." Ianto rubbed at his forehead where a headache loomed. "Look, I’m going to catch a taxi home and get some rest. If the president chews you a new one, tell her to take the cost out of my retirement account or to sue the thing’s mother."

Jack’s laugh was short and sharp, and he looked anywhere but at the younger man. "Aggravation is the last thing you make me feel for you, Jones," he said, tossing his wasted dinner into the garbage as he stood. "And I told you I’d take you home. _Please_ don’t argue with me. Just accept graciously, and let me do it. As for the president, I’ll handle her, and it won’t come out of anything but the public coffers. Torchwood protects Great Britain, and the world, from alien invasion. She can suck it up and accept that freedom has a monetary price from time to time."

"Right. So, since it seems the meal was a waste, I suppose we’re off then."

"Thank you," Jack replied sincerely as he scooped up his jacket and fished out his keys. "You know, you’re not the only den mother on in Torchwood," he reminded the younger man quietly. "Although I prefer to think of myself as just being prudent—you lot tend to get yourselves into trouble more often than not. However, it’s one of the reasons why I have to be that hard ass from time to time. Because I never want to lose another person under my command again."

"I don’t argue that; I simply wish that you’d remember that it goes for more than my team for me. Someone has to look out for you, Harkness."

"You volunteering for the job?" Jack snorted, torn between the pit of warmth that bloomed in his stomach at the idea that Jones did care for him and the cold fact that every time he’d tried to get closer to the younger man, he’d ended up scaring him off just a little more.

Ianto glanced over at him, his eyes widened incredulously. "Just what the fuck do you think that in there was about? I’ve had the job since Cardiff, and apparently I’m doing a shite job at it because, silly me, I figured you wouldn’t go out and actively do insane things."

Jack fought the urge to beat his head against one of the lift walls or to tell Jones that _he_ was the primary reason Jack was doing increasingly insane things because he knew how well that would go over—brick shithouse came to mind. "It’s not like I do this every week or even every other week, Jones. This week was the exception, not the rule, and I’ve promised to be a little more circumspect in what I agree to help John with, so you don’t need to worry about me. I’ll be fine, Jones; I always am."

"Not going to stop worrying," Ianto shrugged, "but I’ll take what you said under advisement."

"Hoist with my own petard," Jack chuckled, doffing his imaginary cap at the younger man. "Well played, Mr. Jones."

"I’m learning, Captain Harkness," Ianto replied with an arch look. "I may not get it right every time, but I’m learning."

"God help me when you finally do get it right on a consistent basis. I’ll be as whipped as John is," Jack muttered without thinking.

Ianto had to chuckle at that. "And then I’ll sleep easier."

Jack just shook his head and unlocked his SUV, waiting for the younger man to get in. "Well, that makes one of us."

"Your faith in me is amazing," Ianto commented as he climbed into the passenger seat and buckled the belt.

"I have complete faith in you; it’s me that I’m worried about," Jack admitted on a sigh as he pulled the SUV into the night traffic around Canary Wharf. "You make me yearn for things, Jones, things that I have no right to even dream of, let alone want. I haven’t had such a hard time disconnecting my brain from all the rest in a very long time."

"What happened in Cardiff..." Ianto began carefully, realizing that it had been a similar situation to the one they had just been in and that a part of him wished that they had ended up with the same consequences. "We’re a bit mental, you and I, aren’t we?" He chuckled softly as he spoke.

"Just a bit," Jack agreed softly as he drove with quick efficiency and sped them through the city traffic to the condo block that Jones called home. The two men fell into companionable silence as one city block melted into another, and soon Jack was pulling up in front of Jones’ condo block door. "For the record, I haven’t changed my mind about anything. Good night, Jones. Enjoy your date on Friday."

"Good night, Harkness," Ianto said, climbing out of the SUV, then leaning back in the still open door. "Take care of yourself; I’ll see you in the morning."

"I always take care of myself," Jack replied with a small wave, "never worry about that. Sleep well." Jack watched Jones until he’d walked into the condo then turned the SUV towards downtown London rather than back towards Canary Wharf or the loft he now called home. He needed to get this need under control before he did something stupid, so he was going to lose himself in a body or ten and hope to God he exhausted the almost insatiable craving for Jones, at least for a little while.


	23. Chapter 23

Jack stumbled back into his apartment having now been awake for almost thirty hours, exhausted to the point of collapse. He’d come home long enough to shower and throw on a suit and tie for his meeting with the president but had still managed to have a cup of coffee waiting on Jones’ desk for the younger man’s arrival to work even as Jack left for his meeting with President Jones. He’d smiled, nodded and made all the right motions, said all the right words, let himself be read the riot act about fiscal responsibility and the wise use of tax payers’ dollars, and then he’d asked the driver to take him home rather than back to the office.

Jack definitely wasn’t as young as he used to be if an all night sex marathon had left him feeling rode hard and put away wet. All he wanted to do was crawl into bed, sleep for a week, and maybe forget for a while the far too gorgeous pain in his ass that was currently driving him mad. With that thought in mind Jack began to strip down as he made a beeline for the bedroom—tie over a coffee table, suit jacket over the back of a club chair, shirt hung haphazardly on the bedroom doorknob and his trousers he simply stepped out of just before collapsing face first onto the mattress, sound asleep almost immediately after his head had hit the pillow.

~*~*~

"So? How’d it go last night?" Ross asked as he arrived at Alpha’s cluster of desks where Ianto was sitting, going through e-mail. "Linda any good?"

"For a man who’s now getting laid regularly, you have an unhealthy interest in my sex life," Ianto chuckled before taking a sip of his coffee and glancing up toward Jack’s office. "But to answer your question, it didn’t; ended up here late finishing my reports and forgot about meeting her until she called."

"Now that’s taking dedication to work too far," Ross said, shaking his head, then ducking and swinging backward when Tom came up behind him and ruffled his short, dark hair. "Oi, do you mind?"

"Nope, not at all, and what is going too far?" the doctor asked. "Lisa dating you?"

"Bastard!" Ross growled. "No, not me and Lisa; I meant Ianto missing out on his date because he was putting together reports for the boss."

"Speaking of the boss, where is he?" Tom asked, glancing toward the glass-walled office. "He’s usually up there when we get in, surveying his kingdom."

"Had a meeting with the president about our croc-bait SUV," Ianto explained. "Not sure what else we were supposed to do in any of the cases where we lost them, but..." He chuckled when Jake walked up, grinning, his eyes focused on something faraway.

"Dr. Harper send you off with a good morning shag, did he?"

"Mmmm," was all Jake said as he dropped down into his own chair and twirled it around, a dreamy smile plastered on his face.

"Christ, it’s as bad as when the boss was shagging him," Tom laughed.

"Worse," Ross pointed out, "he’s in love, so he walks around with that dopy expression on his face all the time."

Ianto chuckled at that. "You mean you can tell a difference?"

"Oi! None of that," Jake growled.

Ross sniggered at Jake’s lame attempt at a growl. "I think we may be hearing wedding bells for our little Jakey-poo sooner rather than later. Bets on when we’ll be throwing him a hen night? We’ll have to get him another tiara to wear."

"I swear to God, Jenkins, I’m going to kick your arse but good!" Jake began to rise out of his chair to do just that only to be interrupted as Donna bustled into the pit and made straight for him.

"Oi you lot—just because Jack’s left early doesn’t mean you can act up!" she tutted as she turned to Jake. "I need Jack’s keys, Simmonds; I have to drop off the minutes of his meeting with the president for his review and sign off, and I don’t want to wake him up, considering what he looked like when he stumbled in here this morning," she demanded, holding out her hand imperiously to the younger man and then snapping her fingers when he didn’t move fast enough. "Some of us have work to do, even with the boss being gone, so a little more speed if you please!"

"What’s wrong with him?" Ianto asked, snapping instantly alert and half-rising from his chair.

"Despite all the flack I get from you lot I _am_ a lady, and there are certain things a lady doesn’t discuss. This would be one of them," Donna sniffed. "What Captain Harkness does after hours is no longer any of your concern, especially now that Jake isn’t shagging him, not that it stopped you gossiping gerties before. Now if you don’t mind, keys, Mr. Simmonds, I have a million and one things to take care of. I have to reschedule all of Jack’s meetings and shift the ones I can’t onto Rose or Doc, deal with their schedules, and I have an in-tray of correspondence I haven’t even had chance to look at yet despite it being half nine!"

"Anything I can do to help?" Ianto asked, "I’m not Harkness, but I did handle some of those things before he showed up."

"You want to be helpful, take this over to his nibs and try not to wake him up. He looked like something the cat dragged in. First time I’ve ever seen him like that—even when he was shagging Jake senseless," Donna muttered as she thrust the keys and a sealed envelope towards Ianto.

"I’ve got to make sure Rose gets briefed on Charlie Team’s status updates before she conferences with the joint chiefs, and then she has a press conference to deal your little croc hunt and Delta’s black ops in a bloody school. Cor, I almost forgot I also need to get Doc off to the hospital because Martha needs a hand with that poor lamb Roger Leeds. Tom, if you’ve time, perhaps you can make sure Doc gets over there and maybe check on the mum too?" the redhead asked, looking more frazzled by the second.

"I’ll go start herding him now," Tom stood and shot a grin at Ross. "Want to help, Ross?"

"Fuck no! Evil twat!" Ross snarled as he quickly ducked around his desk, using the stacked monitors as a flimsy shield.

"I’ll go along with you, Tommy," Jake offered, laughing at Ross’s reaction. "Paranoid much Rossi-kins?"

"Off to play snog a doctor with O-wen?" Ross cooed in retort, batting his eyes at Jake as he did so even as he neatly side stepped the punch Jake threw at him. Backing into Ianto, Ross grimaced as he realized that Ianto was frowning at the files and keys in hand.

"Go on now, off with the lot of you," Donna said, making shooing motions with her hands before turning and leaving in a whirlwind of activity, her mobile phone already out as she made it clear just why Rose, John and Jack cut her so much slack in the quieter moments as she spun like a dervish to get things done in nearly impossible time.

"Ross, you should probably work on those security protocols," Ianto murmured. "When we get back, we can debrief on the Leeds situation."

"Right," Ross nodded, stepping back to his desk, "on it."

"Careful if you wake Jack," Jake cautioned Ianto. "He can be a right bear if he needs his sleep."

"I’ll keep that in mind," Ianto promised as Tom chuckled.

"Maybe you should slap on your patch just in case."

Ianto looked around the group, the skin around his eyes tightening. "I believe you lot all have assignments; now get to them." Saying that, he pocketed Jake’s keys and strode out of the pit toward the motor pool.

"What’s eating his ass this morning?" Tom asked, shaking his head.

"Didn’t make his date with Linda last night," Ross informed the other two quietly.

"Never thought I’d see the day that Ianto was the one not getting laid," Jake added before clapping Tom on the back. "C’mon, off to collect Doc, then get him to hospital."

"Don’t want to say that too loudly, my son, as Ianto’s looking rather cranky about the whole thing," Tom warned quietly as they headed over to R&D in order to collect Doc.

~*~*~

Jack was caught in the midst of a memory cum nightmare as he found himself reliving the events that had transpired in Cardiff just months prior, this time with a much different outcome. Instead of the alien coming taking pot shots at him, it went straight for Jones, and with Jones having slapped his armor on Jack, the younger man was exposed, vulnerable—dead. Jack whimpered and tossed his head, restless despite having exhausted himself from the all-night sex marathon he’d found himself involved in—thank god for retcon ensuring that no one remembered that he’d been at the sex party at all or that the name he’d cried out over and over again was ‘Jones’—and then a completely different kind of reaming from the president.

"Harkness?" The word was called from the entryway, then repeated from further inside the condo. "I’ve got your files, I’ll just leave them—" A moan from the master bedroom had Ianto pausing and almost dropping the report on the table and leaving except it sounded pained, helpless, not sensual. Senses on the alert, he made his way back to the master bedroom and peered inside, frowning when he saw Jack in bed; it seemed his sleep was anything but restful.

"Harkness?" he said as he walked over to the bed to check on the other man, the tone of his voice lower than it had been.

The dreams continued to spin out, each one more gruesome, events of past and present merging with only one person remaining consistent, one person dying over and over again. "Jones, no, Jones," Jack muttered, tossing restlessly, drawing closer and closer to consciousness as he fought against the nightmarish imagery of his brain. Then—a voice, as necessary to him as oxygen, as soothing as rain, and a touch, so gentle despite the roughened fingers and callused palms.

"Jones," Jack murmured again, hand coming out to snag and roll the younger man down beside, under him as he held on tight, wrapping himself limpet-like around the younger man and finally, _finally_ falling into a peaceful slumber.

Ianto almost squawked as he was dragged down beside the older man, but it was plain that Harkness was asleep and equally plain that Jack had calmed the moment he had an arm around him. He lay where he was for a long moment, debating options, then the warmth of Jack’s body against his and the weight of the arm around his waist began to seep into his consciousness.

"No, just no," he muttered to himself as he felt his cock twitch. "Not going there right now." Feeling Jack relax against him, Ianto then began to attempt a long, slow extraction of himself from the tangle of limbs, feeling vaguely guilty as he did so.

Jack’s arms tightened automatically as he felt the younger man try to wriggle away. "No. Stay," he ordered, still asleep but not willing to let the comforting dream go and plunge him back into his nightmares once again.

"For how long?" Ianto asked, not sure if Jack was awake or asleep but thinking it was the latter.

"Forever," came the immediate reply. "Want you forever, Jones, my Jones, my incredible Jones…" Jack sighed, snuggling himself more comfortably against the younger man, wrapping him securely in Jack’s arms as he did so.

"We can’t have forever," Ianto murmured so quietly that only he could hear the words, though he didn’t move and even relaxed back against Jack to lull him into a deeper sleep.

Jack merely snuffled and sighed contentedly, breathing in the younger man’s clean scent, the smell of Jones invading his dreams and making him feel safe for the first time since Ianto had died.

~*~*~

Jack wasn’t sure what woke him first, if it was the fact that he felt well rested for the first time in recent memory or the fact that there was someone else in bed with him and he didn’t know how that person had got there or when because he hadn’t woken up at all. Which meant it could only be one person. "So, when did I grab you, and how long have you been here, Jones?" Jack asked softly, voice still heavy with sleep as he refused to move or open his eyes until absolutely necessary.

"About an hour," Ianto murmured, keeping his voice low. "Sounded like you were having a hell of a dream, so I thought it was best to ride it out with you."

"Just your average night in the life of Jack Harkness then," Jack replied, still not willing to give up the comfort of the younger man’s presence in his arms and in his bed. He knew that sooner or later—sooner rather than later—he’d have to let Jones go back to his life but for now... "What brings you over in the first place? It’s obviously not urgent if you left me to sleep and acted as my security blanket."

"Donna sent me over with the minutes from your meeting this morning; apparently it was critical that you got them, and my volunteering to take over some of what you had on your plate today encompassed playing delivery boy," Ianto chuckled. "Good evening, I take it?"

"Necessary evening," Jack replied with a slight grimace. "Transitory fun at best, lots of regret afterwards. Nothing I care to repeat anytime soon."

The noise Ianto made in response was neutral. "If it was fun and no one got hurt, there’s nothing to regret, is there?"

"There’s always something to regret," Jack sighed, finally allowing himself to open his eyes and look at the young man he wanted desperately to be his lover. "I regret it wasn’t you," he whispered, shifting as he did so in order to place a tender kiss on Jones’s lips. "I should have been strong enough to wait for you. I’m sorry, Jones."

Not giving the younger man time to respond and, admittedly, retreating before he could make a bigger fool of himself, Jack rolled out of bed and ducked into the bathroom, softly beating his head against the closed door and calling himself every kind of fool imaginable for pressuring Jones yet again. "God, could you be any more of a fool if you tried, Jack?" he asked himself quietly. "I know exactly who you are, Jones," he continued, fingers trailing down the wood grain. "It only makes me need you more; arrogant little prick."

In the bedroom, Ianto let the hand that had been half-raised to grab Jack and haul him in for another kiss fall to the brown and gold pinstriped bedding with a low groan. "You’re sorry?" he muttered to himself. "Christ, now who’s the fuckwit?"

Realizing that he was still lying in Harkness’ bed, Ianto levered himself up, rubbing the back of his neck as he tried to get himself back into a proper frame of mind—not that he was really sure what that should be at this point.

It took an ice cold shower and a stern self-lecture to get Jack to the point where he was willing to stick his head out to see if Jones had fled as soon as he’d disappeared into the washroom. The bedroom was empty, and Jack had to fight the wave of disappointment that flooded him.

"Stupid, stupid, stupid. Of course he’s gone, you _fuckwit_ ," he cursed himself softly as he dressed in a pair of well broken-in jeans and a t-shirt that had shrunk half a size when he’d had it laundered but that he’d never bothered getting rid of. Toweling off his hair, he made a beeline for the kitchen in order to put on a pot of coffee and grab something to eat. He had those minutes to go through, after all, not to mention the small mountain of paperwork that was probably waiting for him back at the office. God, he hated paperwork!

"Glad to see you didn’t drown," Ianto commented from where he sat in the living room, leafing through the minutes he had brought over, doing a double-take when he saw what Jack was wearing, his throat working as he swallowed convulsively at the mouth-watering sight.

Jack’s head shot up at the sound of Jones’s voice, and he had to brace himself against the granite countertops to stop himself from sinking to his knees at the heat in the younger man’s eyes as they raked over him. _Thank fuck, he still wants me,_ Jack thought inanely as he tried to pull together a coherent stream of thought.

"I, er, I’ve been advised that I should think before I act in my more irrational moments. The man who gave me the advice, rather passionately I might add, struck me as a very intelligent person and one I’d do well to listen to. Therefore I’m trying to turn over a new leaf so no, no drowning in the shower," Jack managed to get out despite his throat being Sahara dry. "Coffee?" he asked as the machine beeped, indicating the brew cycle was complete.

Clearing his throat, Ianto stood, still holding the folder he’d been reading, and nodded. "That sounds good."

Jack busied himself with preparing two cups of coffee as well as pulling a protein bar out of the cupboard despite knowing it would only stick in his throat if he tried to eat it right now. Setting a cup on the opposite side of the breakfast bar to him, Jack was pleased to see that his hands were trembling only minutely and that unless Jones was hyper aware of him, he wouldn’t be able to pick up on it.

"Well, Alpha team is off the hook, but I’ve been advised that Field Ops has to be more fiscally responsible from now on as we are in an economic downturn and must set an example blah blah blah," Jack informed the younger man as he took a sip of his own coffee, the protein bar left untouched to the side for the moment. "It’ll take a few days for a replacement to be available, so your team has time to catch up on their paperwork."

"Something we all live for," Ianto said dryly before taking a sip of his coffee. "And out of curiosity, what are we supposed to do? Not chase after something because it might wreck our transpo?"

"I’ll see what I can come up with," Jack chuckled. "I really was going to give you a camper van, you know. I even had it on order and everything. It would have been a loaner, but I was going to damned well do it. It was painted with the Union Jack and had the most gaudy pair of dice I’d ever seen hanging off the mirror." Jack shook his head, sighed heavily and then gave the younger man a piercing look. "You break my SUV, Jones, and there really will be hell to pay. Got it?" he ordered, reaching for his spare keys that were in the basket in the centre of the island and tossing them at Jones.

Ianto quirked a grin before sketching a salute in the other man’s direction. "Got it, Boss. We’ll bring it back in pristine condition; we’ll even wash and wax it for you if you want."

"Do I get to watch you do it?" Jack asked before his brain caught up with his mouth.

"Sure," Ianto chuckled. "You could even sell tickets; it might off-set our debts."

"Martha might kill me if I pimped out her fiancé," Jack replied dryly. "Not to mention Lisa—that girl has a hidden mean streak; don’t let her sweet demeanor fool you. She’s already made it clear that Ross is off limits to everyone in admin." And then there was the fact that Jack would be less than thrilled to watch all those women throw themselves at Jones, what with him being the last available Wild Boy left.

"You mean you won’t protect us from their clutches?"

"You might need them to protect you from me," Jack muttered, looking anywhere but at the younger man.

"I can take care of myself," Ianto countered, "or not as the case may be."

Jack sucked in a sharp breath and closed his eyes, trying to maintain some semblance of control. "In that case, I’ll get Donna to send out an email letting Torchwood know about the ‘charity’ carwash that the Wild Boys are putting on. I have no doubt every single person on staff will be lining up for a ticket. It should be a good show."

"Maybe we could get the president to buy some as well so she can have something to think of other than the budget," Ianto suggested.

"You want her ogling you too?" Jack growled and then reined it back in hard and fast. "I can call her today and suggest it. I’ll have Donna check on the build of your new SUV so I can give her an approximate date. I’m sure she’ll clear her calendar."

"Harkness," Ianto said gently, "it was a joke. I’m sure she’s kept busy ogling you."

"Wouldn’t know, couldn’t care less," Jack groaned, realizing he’d made an ass of himself yet again. "I guess I owe you another apology. I’m not normally this… erratic," he finished lamely.

Ianto took another drink from his mug before offering a rueful smile. "I don’t suppose I’m making it very easy either."

"Wouldn’t want you any other way, Jones," Jack admitted with an answering smile. "You keep me on my toes, no question about that."

"All in the job description," Ianto grinned before cocking his head to the side as he listened to something. "Shit, the boys are calling, wondering where I am, better get going."

"Blame it on me wanting an update on the doomsday protocols," Jack suggested. "It’s a believable cover. Just email me the information, and I’ll be updated, but they won’t know differently. Thanks for bringing the report and again, my apologies for hauling you into bed with me. I’ll try and keep my hands to myself from now on."

"Remember, Harkness," Ianto said as he stood, "I could have gotten up any time I wanted." He smirked slightly before turning and heading for the door. "I’ll let myself out; try to relax today."

Jack waited until the door closed behind Jones’s retreating figure and let out a heartfelt groan. "That man is going to drive me crazy before this is over," he muttered.


	24. Chapter 24

Jack paced his office restlessly. It had been weeks since he’d started his subtle courtship of Jones, barring a few bumps where he’d almost given the game away, and he was tired of being coy about it. He was tired of finding excuses and obfuscations in order to spend time with the younger man.

"So, wanna tell me what’s chewing your arse, beefcake?" Donna asked as she walked into Jack’s office unannounced, a stack of correspondence in her hand. "You’ve been pacing around here like a caged tiger for the past hour. People down in the pit have been noticing and are getting ‘concerned’. The last time you did this, that directive of yours came down from on high, not that it wasn’t needed, but you’re making the natives nervous."

Jack groaned and all but threw himself into his desk chair. "Shut the door, and I swear, Red, if you breathe a word of this to anyone…"

"Have I ever spilled when it was that important?" Donna asked huffily as she shut and locked the door and then came to sit across from Jack. "Now then, tell Donna all."

"Jones," Jack muttered tersely. "He’s driving me batshit."

"Not jumping through the hoops you want him to with all those anonymous gifts you keep giving him?" she asked sagely, chuckling at Jack’s gobsmacked expression. "Not much goes on in the executive offices that I don’t know about, Jack Harkness. I’m bloody brilliant at what I do."

"And pretty damned scary. You sure you don’t want a field assignment? At the rate Anders keeps pissing me off, Charlie Team will need a new lead soon."

"Oh hell no, I’ll take office intrigue over being shot at any day of the week!" Donna exclaimed with a laugh. "Seriously though, Jack, ask the bugger out. Like on a date. You know, where you wear something snazzy, pick him up on time, open the doors, buy him dinner, taking him dancing and then kiss him good night and don’t stay the night either. A _real_ date."

"I, umh, every time I tried with Ianto, my other Ianto, it always ended badly—usually due to the Rift acting up or some alien catastrophe," Jack admitted, cheeks coloring slightly.

"Bloody hell, you’re scared!" Donna exclaimed and then quickly amended her statement at Jack’s glare. "I mean nervous! You’re nervous.

"Jack, look around you—this is London, not Cardiff, and more importantly," Donna stood up and walked over to the window in order to look down into the pit where the Wild Boys were playing catch up on their paperwork, "that man down there isn’t your other Ianto," she informed her boss tartly, tapping the glass. "That man down there is the team lead of Alpha Team and a bloody fine field operative. I dare say he can handle anything he comes up against—even you."

Jack came to stand behind Donna, looking down over her shoulder at the Ianto in question. "Yeah, he can pretty much kick my ass sideways, I think," Jack admitted wryly. "I’m being an idiot, aren’t I?"

"Yes. But you’re allowed. Go on, ask the man out to dinner. I’ll even make the arrangements if you like. Nothing too flash or posh but still nice," she mused, scooting around him as her mind whirled. "Someplace low key, dark corners where you can chat and disappear into the shadows to steal a snog or two—but only that, mind! Ianto’s a bit of an old soul, so you can get away with a bit of romance. Maybe close to a jazz club so you can take him dancing afterwards—oh, I’ve got it! The Tamarind for dinner followed by the Vortex. Oh, you’ll be well on your way to winning the heart of your fair Jones! Now go on then, ask him out. Call him up here to do it, or better yet email him and ask him to meet you at that coffee house you get his morning coffee from. That way you’ll be away from prying eyes, and you’ll be owning up to what he already knows—that you’re the one bringing him coffee every morning."

"Red, you are truly a terrifying goddess of a woman. I’d never survive you. Rupesh is a braver man than I’ll ever be!" Jack chuckled. "And, Donna? Thanks."

Donna walked over to Jack as he continued to look down over his little domain and bussed a kiss on his cheek. "You’re welcome. You can make it up to me by planning my hen party once Ru finally works up the courage to ask me."

"Consider it done!" Jack laughed, hugging the voluptuous redhead hard.

~*~*~

Barely subdued rock music played through the earbuds Ianto wore as he tried to ignore his teammates except when he tossed the hacky sack they were winging around back in their direction when it landed on his desk. A new set of directives had come down from the holy triumvirate, and he was busy trying to get the gist of them so he could pass them on to the others though they’d have to read them in entirety on their own.

Something tapped his shoulder, and he reached over, expecting to feel the nubby fabric of the hacky sack but colliding instead with flesh. Looking up sharply, he blinked at seeing Jack standing there, looking very... focused.

"Something I can do for you, Harkness?" he asked after pulling his earbuds from his ears and well aware that Jake, Ross and Tom were all looking intently in their direction, waiting to see if it was something that involved Alpha team.

Now that he was confronted with the younger man, and in front of Alpha team no less, Jack was forced to admit he was nervous—butterflies in stomach, sweaty palms kind of nervous. But Donna was right; how was he to ever prove to Jones that he was interested in _this_ man, not a ghost from his past if he didn’t do something, well, drastic?

"Walk with me, Jones," he murmured, jerking his head towards the door. The less he said in front of the other three, the better—that way Jones wouldn’t have to lie too much, and he wouldn’t give his interest away.

Looking over at the empty grouping of desks on the other side of the ‘pit’, Jack was inordinately glad that Charlie team was in Cardiff this month. No sense setting Jones up for more than he already got from them.

"Sure, Boss," Ianto said easily though he was instantly alert, wondering what was going on. He knew that the others were watching then but didn’t look toward them as he stood—he’d tell them what Harkness wanted when he returned.

Jack heaved a put-upon sigh. "You know I hate being called that, right?" he asked and then shook his head. "Never mind, of course you do! Ah well, I’ve been called worse." Not saying anything else, Jack led Jones through the building and out to a rarely used courtyard—one with no security feed thanks to a quick call before heading down to the pit.

Once the door shut behind them, Jack’s nerves returned full force. He laughed softly at the cosmic joke—he was the ‘face of Boe’, the youngest human to ever be accepted at the Time Agency, and one of the brashest. He’d spent most of his formative years running con after con so smoothly that he hardly ever got caught. Jack had been the kind of bad man that mothers warned their daughters, and sons, about only to have the daughters and sons ignore their advice entirely and run straight into his open arms. Hell, he’d never been nervous about anything; it just wasn’t in his makeup—but here he was sweating bullets over asking a guy out on a date!

"Jones," he began and then paused, sighed, and scrubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. "Shit, who’d have thought this would be so hard? Okay, this isn’t work related; this is... this is me, asking you out on a date. Would you like to have dinner with me tonight?"

Ianto’s eyebrows rose minutely as he studied the other man. Jack looked almost nervous, something that surprised him. So, it had finally come to this, two months of his coffee being delivered to his desk each morning, his favorite bottles of wine showing up at his door at odd intervals and numerous other tokens appearing when he wasn’t around. He’d known that Harkness was behind it, that this was another way of reminding him that he was still there, to prove that it was Ianto he saw, not the other him, the one Jack had lost.

It was out in the open, and now it was his move, and he had to admit, he had known for weeks what the answer would be when it came down to this. "All right, where are we going?"

"Not too dressy, but not jeans and t-shirt," Jack replied, letting out the breath he hadn’t known he’d been holding. "I’ll pick you up at six? And I promise not to keep you out all hours of the night; I’ve heard that boss of yours can be a real hard ass about some things," he grinned wryly.

"That still doesn’t tell me where we’re going," Ianto pointed out with a small smile. "And fine, be mysterious about it; I’ll find out eventually." He turned to go but looked back over his shoulder. "And that boss of mine, his ass might be hard, but it’s also not bad to ogle."

Jack gaped at the other man’s retreating back and then burst into laughter. "Prick!" he called out after Jones just as the door was beginning to shut. "I knew you were looking!"

~*~*~

"So, what did the boss want?" Ross asked curiously when Ianto rejoined the rest of his team.

"Just wanted to discuss all of us getting together to go over our project," he reported straight-faced, not quite ready to reveal the evening’s plans to his mates.

Jake eyed him at that before slowly nodding. "Uh huh."

"Yeah, uh huh. Meeting’s day after tomorrow; he’s buying supper, so have your updates together and ready to present."

"Are we meeting at his place" Tom asked, trying to change the topic a bit. "I’d love to know how he managed to swing a swank location with a view in next to no time at all. Martha and I have been looking for a condo overlooking Canary Wharf for a while now."

Jake chuckled at that. "Oh please, it’s Jack bloody Harkness; he can charm a viper into giving up its teeth."

"True that," Tom conceded with a grin. "Damned good thing he’s on our side, or we’d all be screwed."

"Some of us already have been," Ross snickered, looking at Jake, who merely grinned a Cheshire grin as he happily flipped the other agent off.

~*~*~

Jack checked his appearance in the mirror one final time before he was to head out to pick Jones up. He’d opted to leave off the tie, but the navy blue suit with its crisp navy and white pinstriped shirt still had him feeling a little unbalanced. Invariably suits always reminded him of Ianto’s love of the look, but he’d also seen how appreciative Jones had been of this particular look when he’d given Jones and Anders that dressing down after their after-hours brawl.

"Ianto, if you could only see me now," he murmured with a fond smile as he fingered the fob of the stopwatch he had tucked into a trouser pocket. "Wearing suits and getting sweaty palms at the thought of going out on a date. You’d never let me live it down, would you?" he chuckled as he made sure that he had his wallet in his inside breast pocket before letting himself out of his condo. "Or maybe you’d be proud of me for finally getting some style and doing the responsible thing for once."

The directions to both the Indian restaurant, Tamarind, and the Vortex jazz club were already programmed into his nav system, so all he had to do was pick up his date. It was a damned good thing that Jack could find his way to Jones’ place in his sleep, considering how distracted he was, but in short order he was knocking on the younger man’s door, heart racing in anticipation.

~*~*~

Inside the condo, Ianto took a deep breath, slowly letting it out as he smoothed his black-and-white striped shirt into his black linen pants and settled his charcoal grey jacket more comfortably. He still had reservations about this, but he was going to give it a go. He knew he enjoyed Harkness’ company, and there was sure as hell an explosion of attraction. If it was anyone else, things would have already progressed farther along than they had—which was Harkness leaving ‘anonymous gifts’ and some mild flirting.

All right, a date then and see where it went. Ianto opened the door and smiled easily. "Evening, Harkness," he said, giving the other man an obvious once over and just as obviously liking what he saw. "Right on time, I’m impressed." Stepping back, he held the door open, inviting the other man inside.

Jack’s eyes raked over the other man appreciatively. Damn. "That’s the plan," Jack replied with a grin as he moved past the younger man into the condo’s living area. "I hope I can keep up the trend for the rest of the evening. You’re gorgeous, and I desperately want to kiss you, but I’m going to do something I rarely get a chance to—I’m going to be a gentleman."

"Well then, do we have time for me to offer you a drink, or do we have to dash to this mysterious restaurant?"

Jack grinned at the question. "We have time for a drink. The reservation isn’t for another hour. I was planning on a drink in the lounge there, but this is a much better idea."

"Have a seat," Ianto offered, walking over to the wet bar and taking out two glasses. "It’s McPhails, yes?" he asked, looking over at Jack.

Jack raised an eyebrow. "Well, now it’s my turn to be impressed. How did you know that?" he asked, nodding his confirmation.

Ianto only smiled. "Investigative techniques; you have to have them to be a field operative." He poured two fingers worth into a tumbler, then added some to his glass as well, carrying them both over to the seating arrangement where Jack was waiting.

"Oh, the comebacks I’m biting my tongue to stop saying," Jack admitted with a wry smile. "You make things far too easy, Jones; you need to stop." Taking a sip of the forty-year-old whisky, Jack closed his eyes and moaned quietly in appreciation. "This would be one of the absolute indulgences I give myself," he admitted, opening his eyes to find Jones watching him. "The Scots can work magic with grain and peat; genetic memory is a wonderful thing."

"Thank goodness for them and the French for their wine," Ianto chuckled as he sat down across from Jack. "They do make hard days easier and good days more celebratory."

"Why, Mr. Jones, a connoisseur of wine, whisky, and celebrations; you’re a man of many talents," Jack saluted the younger man with his glass. "And you have a very discerning palate. Good taste all around really."

"I know what I like," Ianto allowed, letting Jack make of that what he would. "Here’s to an interesting evening." He raised his glass to the other man and drank, the mellow whisky sliding down his throat to take up residence in his stomach like a small ember.

"And many more to come," Jack amended, taking a sip from his glass. "As for knowing what you like—that kind of confidence is very attractive. No wonder the admin pool has a running bet as to what sort of person it will take to make Ianto Jones settle down; they have odds on favorites for both sexes right now."

"Do they?" Ianto asked before chuckling. "I wonder how much was lost when Jake cozied up with Owen—and what book they have on you."

"The pool might have lost, but I won," Jack snickered. "Or should I say a whole bunch of children won—a local charity received a rather huge anonymous donation," Jack admitted. "Of course, I’m waiting to see if the charity is going to be endowed with some more winnings if and when yours comes due."

"I believe that’s called stacking the deck," Ianto chuckled, "at least where Jake was concerned."

"I prefer to think of it as creative fundraising."

"Perhaps you’re in the wrong department—Torchwood doesn’t have a marketing group..."

"What, and have Field Ops miss out on all my creative training exercises?" Jack asked, pretending to be offended. "If I didn’t know better, I’d say you didn’t like my little games, Jones. I think I’m wounded."

"If you have to think about it, then you probably aren’t—and are you saying you couldn’t do both jobs at once?"

"It wouldn’t be the first shell game or con I’ve run, that’s for sure," Jack laughed. "But I’m trying to stay honest. Besides dividing my time between John’s experiments and you kids is more than enough to keep me busy pretty much 24/7."

"Are you saying we wear you out?" Ianto asked, sounding amused.

"Not yet, but I have high hopes that that may be in my future," Jack replied with a lascivious grin. Tossing back the rest of his drink, he put the glass down onto a coaster and stood. "And speaking of future events, I believe we have table reservations, Mr. Jones." Crooking his arm gallantly, Jack shot Jones a daring grin. "If my handsome date is ready to go?"

"Fuckwit," Ianto laughed to himself even as he tossed back his drink and stood, hooking his arm through Jack’s. "Is this where we put on frocks and skip to school?" he asked, grinning.

"Will you let me carry your books and hold hands between classes?" Jack rebutted playfully as Jones let them out of the condo and then locked up behind them. "We can even sit together in the canteen, and I’ll carry your lunch tray."

"Only if you wear a pink ribbon in your hair," Ianto said blithely. "And are we walking, taking a taxi, or driving?"

Jack guffawed at the pink ribbon comment. "Jones, if I’d been able to find any of my personal effects to bring with me, then I could have shown you how stunning I look in sequins, a red wig, make up, false boobs and some serious stilettos! I did a stint as a drag performer. It was a riot. As for our method of transport…" Jack came to a halt beside his SUV and, with a gallant bow, opened the door for Jones to get in.

Dark brows winged upward even as Ianto climbed into the vehicle though he waited to comment until Jack was in as well. "If you wear drag around me, I’m taking pictures," he said, shaking his head.

"Is that supposed to be a threat?" Jack chuckled as he got into the right hand side of the car. "Man or woman I’ve got great gams, and I don’t mind showing them off," he said, flashing a Hollywood smile. Easing the SUV out into the traffic, Jack turned on the radio, and 1940s torch songs filled the enclosed space. "Oddly enough, a lot of the music in this universe is the same as my original one, the artists too. Some references are different; a lot of countries are different in terms of political structure etcetera; but music remains the same. No one could croon a tune like Billie Holliday or Ella Fitzgerald. Absolutely amazing women, the both of them!"

"And let me guess, you knew them both _intimately_ ," Ianto chuckled.

"No, I didn’t, as hard as it is to believe. They were both happily married and very much in love with their husbands. Nah, I was just a soldier boy who had the pleasure of seeing them play live when they did USO tours."

Flicking on the GPS for mere seconds just to confirm what he already knew, Jack took the next left and then merged onto one of the larger thoroughfares that would take them into the heart of downtown London and the more fashionable places to see and be seen.

Ianto twisted sideways, leaning against the passenger door and studying Jack for a moment. "Somehow, Harkness, I doubt you were ever just ‘a soldier boy’."

"Sometimes it was easier to blend into the crowd instead of standing out in it," Jack said with a shrug. "Times, and people, were different. I’ve become the most successful chameleon in history; I can adapt to pretty much anything that you throw at me."

Turning off the highway onto Northumberland, Jack was soon guiding the SUV onto Pall Mall and then Piccadilly where he couldn’t help but comment. "You know, it’s weird knowing that Buckingham Palace is nothing more than a museum here. Kinda creepy, really."

"Other than our lack of your friend Shakespeare and a monarch, have you found many other differences?" Ianto asked curiously.

"You mean apart from it being three years later than it is where I come from? Truthfully, I’ve tried not to seek out the differences. This is my home now, and it is what it is—that whole adaption thing again. I can’t keep comparing because it’s a futile exercise. I’ve noticed it, obviously, about people I knew or know, but even those differences are slight for the most part. Sort of like you turning right when you were meant to turn left, and so it changed the way you made a decision, if that makes sense."

"It does," Ianto nodded. "I’m sure it would be the same if it happened to me. When Rose, Mickey and Jackie went back, some of us offered to go and help; there weren’t enough translocators though."

"I’m kind of glad you didn’t. Two Iantos in the same place would have been both heaven and hell combined," Jack replied humorously. "Besides, things happen for a reason, and this," Jack waved his hand encompassingly, "would have been a great deal different had I known about you beforehand. We would have been different, and I don’t want to change a thing. I mean that."

Ianto mused over the statement before smiling slightly. "What you must have lived, Harkness. I’m sure you know there are wagers going on about it."

"I’ve seen civilizations be born, thrive, reach their apex and then crumble. I’ve watched empires who thought they’d exist forever fade into obscurity. Men and women who thought they were gods be brought down by their subjects because of their capriciousness," Jack replied softly. "I can also tell you what dinosaur meat tastes like, if you’re interested.

"So these wagers? They about how old I am? Can’t tell you that, because I don’t really know. I did this backwards and forwards thing through time, and there’s this little problem of me having my memory wiped a few times. I can tell you that I’ve been to the end of the universe and the beginning and everything in between. I can tell you I was born on the Boshane Peninsula in the 51st century and that we were at war. My father died, and my younger brother got taken by an enemy I can’t remember, but I know that my mother and I barely escaped with our lives. I remember the sound of my best friend’s screams as he was tortured right in front of me by that same enemy, and I could tell you how it was entirely my fault because I’d convinced him that joining up would be a glorious adventure.

"I could regale you with the story of being hours from execution but being so irresistible that the jailors—fraternal twins—sprung me, and then the three of us did things that even I didn’t think was possible at the time. I could teach you how to run a shell game on Avalon and how to be a ‘working boy’ in the Argolian Cluster, or I could simply say I’ve lived a very long time," Jack finished with a shrug as he turned onto a small side street and into a parking lot. "I have to caveat the restaurant in advance. I had Donna... give me suggestions on where to take a date," Jack stumbled as he realized that Jones might not want the vivacious redhead knowing that he was seeing ‘the boss’.

"Donna?" Ianto asked, his eyebrows arching upward even as he silently digested Jack’s stories. "I’m wondering if I should start worrying now."

"Well, considering she’s dating a doctor, I figured she’d know the ‘swank’ places to go, and it’s not like I could even think of asking Jake; he’d be all over me like fleas on a dog trying to get blood—I mean more information."

Ianto shuddered at the thought. "Understatement. Harper must not be keeping him busy enough if he still has time to ask after you and I—I’m going to have to take the lads to the training grounds."

"Feel free to take them as many times as you feel the need to. Or you could volunteer them to help Doc in the lab the next time any of them get curious," Jack suggested with an evil smirk before turning off the engine, getting out of the car and rounding it quickly. Opening the door for the younger man with a slight bow, Jack crooked his arm again, his smile becoming more mischievous. "So, Mr. Jones, ready to paint the town red?" he asked as the younger man slid his arm through Jack’s with a roll of his eyes. "After we eat, of course. I hope you like Indian food."

"Love it," Ianto answered blithely, "the hotter the better. And don’t go suggesting I loan the lads to Doc; I need them field-ready, not stuck in the infirmary, thanks. Word going around is that he’s working on some particle destabilizer, and I’d never hear the end of it if one of them lost an important body part."

"I’m sure John would find a way to grow it back—eventually," Jack chortled as he slowed to a saunter and then turned them into an elegant looking portico. "And here we are," he murmured, letting go of Jones’ arm so that he could hold the door open for the younger man. "After you, Mr. Jones."

"Why thank you, Captain Harkness," Ianto replied dryly as they walked inside, the warm-toned, spice-scented interior surrounding them as the hostess smiled and led them toward a table in a secluded corner in the back.

"Never let it be said I don’t know how to treat my date right," Jack chuckled as he slid into the seat opposite Jones. Ordering two Kingfisher beers, Jack leaned back in his seat and smiled. "So, you asked all the questions on the way here; that means it’s my turn. Tell me about the incorrigible Ianto Jones—your family, your life, university, your first love, anything. I want to know everything there is to know about you."

"Oh, that’s nothing like a little pressure," Ianto chuckled. "All right, my mum would say I was incorrigible from birth; I was three weeks late and decided to make my presence known while she was in church. Didn’t sleep through the night until I was over a year old and was walking at nine months.

"Rhia tried to give me away when I cut the hair off all her dolls," he paused and grinned at that. "Luckily Mum found her before she got me across the road."

Jack smiled at the mental image of a mischievous little Jones. "You sound like you were a handful. What about your younger sister? What is she studying? Have you and the Wild Boys terrorized any of her boyfriends yet? Are your parents still alive? And most importantly, am I going to have to go through a family vetting when I finally convince you to take a chance on me?"

"Claire wants to be a physicist," Ianto answered after swallowing another mouthful of beer. "She’s in the US working on her doctorate—or so she says," he chuckled. "I think it’s to get away from her one real and three surrogate brothers.

"Mum’s a housewife, and Dad’s a banker looking forward to retirement in the next few years—he is; I’m not so sure that she wants him around the house all the time.

"As for the vetting, are you saying that would scare you?"

Jack took a swallow of his own beer. "Never been good at meeting the parents," he admitted. "Do you have any idea how hard it is to act the earnest young suitor when you’re as old as I am? I can do it, but I tend to slip up when talking about things like politics and the like," Jack finished with a shrug. "Let’s face it, I’ve lived and forgotten more ‘history’ than most people ever know. It betrays my age at times."

Picking up a menu, he looked over the choices and smiled. "Well, I could be the ‘man’ and order, but I’d rather you order, if you don’t mind?" Jack asked, looking over at Jones thoughtfully. "After all, I trust your judgment."

"After the earnest young suitor comment, I’m not sure that you should," Ianto commented dryly. "If it ever comes about, be yourself, Harkness; they’ll like you more for it than playing a part."

The waitress returned and, after cocking an eyebrow at Jack, who merely nodded, Ianto ordered for them both, a mixture of spicy and cool dishes that would complement each other well.

Jack laughed self deprecatingly. "I hate to burst your bubble, Jones, but you’re not the first person I’ve ‘courted’," _and you won’t be the last,_ Jack thought before quickly stamping down that train of thought. "I think I know the courtship rituals of every era of this planet, starting from being able to bring down the biggest dinosaur onwards," he teased.

"As for being myself—I know Torchwood is mainstream here, but are you telling me that your parents and sisters will be happy with you dating a man older than dirt and who will stay young while you grow old? They may have a little issue with that, don’t you think?"

"You’re the one who brought it up," Ianto shrugged lazily. "And as for the family, I have no idea what they would think, nor am I going to worry about it.

"Guess I’d better start boning up on my recent events and small talk," Jack grinned. "Because sooner or later you’re going to realize what a catch I am, Jones. So, physics I can discuss, quantum and otherwise. Banking—well, you live as long as I have, you learn a few tricks, so that I can handle. As for being a housewife—been there, done that too. I’m a man of many talents," Jack laughed.

"Now that just leaves Rhia, her husband and their kids to win over. Kids are easy; I’ve been a father and a grandfather; I can do kids. So tell me about your older sister—I can promise not to shave her dolls’ heads, but I doubt she has any anymore."

"You mean you haven’t put it together from my file?" Ianto asked, sounding amused. "She’s on the County Council for Cardiff, Liberal Democrat, so your politics should go along well."

"Ah, a woman I can talk shop with—now all I have to do is sit back and wait for you to invite me to meet the family," Jack grinned, his natural confidence finally emerging once more. How could he possibly have been nervous about going on a date with Jones? It was as natural as breathing.

"C’mon, admit it—you’re dying to, if for no other reason than to see how I handle it and how your family handles me."

"It might be amusing," Ianto allowed in between sips of his beer.

"It’ll be more than amusing… I’ll fit right in, and you know it," Jack grinned as the waitress brought the first course of their dinner. "Or are you afraid they’ll all decide I’m a great catch and tell you that you should keep me?"

"Eat your meal, Harkness," Ianto snorted. "No one’s going to Cardiff any time soon."

We’ll see, Jones, we’ll see," Jack chuckled softly.


	25. Chapter 25

The club was called the Vortex, and it was everything a jazz club should be—smoky, dark, and full of bluesy, slow music that made people want to pull their significant others close and either canoodle or slow dance the night away. "So, ready for part two of the date, Mr. Jones?" Jack asked as he held the SUV door open for the younger man.

"To quote the lads, I’m always ready," Ianto said wryly. "And I’m going to take that bloody remote away from you so that I can open my own door," he added in a laughing threat.

Jack couldn’t resist the temptation. Holding up the remote playfully, he proceeded to stuff it into his back pocket and then waggled his eyebrows teasingly. "By all means, come and get it," he offered with a lascivious grin. "And please feel free to grope while you do so. Nothing like a good grope on a hot date."

"We’ll just see about that; no point in doing it if you’re expecting it, is there?" Ianto asked, managing to get to the door first and hold it open for Jack. "After you, Harkness."

Jack quirked an eyebrow at the door and chuckled softly. "Point to Jones," he murmured as he walked by the younger man. "But the night’s still young, and even if I don’t get groped, chances are pretty good that you will."

"Hrmm, intriguing thought," Ianto murmured, one corner of his mouth lifting in a smirk as he reached out and pinched Jack’s ass, unable to resist the challenge.

"Mmmm, do that again and I can’t be held accountable for my actions," Jack threatened playfully as he scanned the darkened room looking for a table. Finding one in the back corner of the room, he slid his arm around Jones’s waist to guide the younger man towards his goal as well as to keep him close. "You smell good enough to eat, by the way," he whispered in Jones’s ear. "And I didn’t get any dessert at the restaurant…"

Ianto chuckled though he rested his arm around Jack’s waist as well as they moved back toward the table Jack had spotted. "Tell me honestly; just how many lines do you have at your disposal?"

"I’ve lived through the beginning of this world right up to its end and beyond," Jack murmured in Jones’ ear. "I’ve forgotten more lines than have been created to date. But in your case, they’re all true." And with that Jack gave in to temptation and licked a long stripe from the base of Jones’s neck to the bottom of his ear—and then he nibbled on the lobe for good measure. "Delicious."

"This is proper date behavior?" Ianto asked as they sat at the small table, sounding amused.

"Well, it depends on what part of the universe you’re in and what century," Jack pointed out with a grin but nonetheless backed off a bit with just the barest hint of an internal sigh. "Does this mean I can’t ask you to dance later?"

"Well, I did just grope your ass; I suppose I owe you a dance for that."

Jack smiled wickedly at the younger man but wisely kept his mouth shut about how his only complaint was that the grope didn’t last longer. Discretion was, after all, the better part of valor. "So, I have to ask, I saw the guitar in your condo that night after the fight that I’m pretending didn’t happen. Do you play?"

"Play at it," Ianto admitted. "So it’s more for myself than anything."

"Would you play for me?" Jack asked, watching the younger man intently.

"Not tonight," Ianto parried easily, "but who can say what the future will bring."

"I can wait. I’m a patient man—most of the time," the older man grinned at his date. "Especially if it’s worth the wait."

"So, just where did you hear about this place?" Ianto asked curiously.

Jack momentarily avoided the question by flagging down a waitress and ordering a drink for both of them, his mind racing to come up with a plausible answer. In the end he simply looked chagrined and muttered, "It was recommended by a certain redheaded menace."

"Donna suggested it too?" Ianto asked, his jaw twitching as he tried in vain to keep his laughter under control.

Jack groaned and tried to find something other than Jones to look at.

"Actually, it’s refreshing that you asked her," he commented, his low voice nearly lost under the music that was playing. "It makes you a little less larger-than-life."

"Well, if you’d come up to my office this morning and seen me pacing and muttering and trying to figure out what the hell I was going to do with you, chances are you’d have gotten the same impression. You confound me, Jones. No one has done that in a very long time."

"You don’t sound as if you know if you’re amused or annoyed at that."

"Because I’m not sure of what I am either," Jack retorted. "I’ve never been this confused by anyone—man, woman, sentient stone, living tree or anything. Not even in my recent past," he admitted.

Ianto’s lips curved upward at that comment, but it wasn’t the familiar smirk that drove Jack insane. "I’m glad to hear it; let’s dance, Harkness. No point in wasting the music, is there?" He stood at that and offered the other man his hand, glancing at the cocktail waitress as she arrived carrying their drinks. "We can enjoy those when we come back."

Who was Jack to argue if Jones wanted to dance, he thought to himself with a smirk. Anything he could do to get the younger man in his arms was all right with him. Just as they hit the dance floor a slow song began to play, the woman’s voice smoky with just the right touch of rasp as she sang about casting a spell on an unsuspecting man, something Jack found oddly apropos. "Seeing as how you asked me, you can lead," he grinned as he let himself be led to the center of the dance area.

"Thanks so much for the permission," Ianto snorted, turning so that they fit into each other’s arms and began to sway to the music. He had to wonder how often Harkness had danced with the other him as it seemed easy, effortless.

Jack’s hand slid into the small of Jones’s back with artless familiarity, and the other grasped the younger man’s lightly as Jack pressed their cheeks together. He almost moaned as their bodies slotted together like puzzle pieces coming into alignment.

The subtle cologne that Jones wore tickled his nose, the light citrus scent so inviting that he took a deep breath and rubbed their cheeks lightly together. The music flowed over them, the song one he knew—and had always loved to slow dance to, Jack thought with an inane grin.

Without even consciously being aware of it, Jack began to sing softly along with the chanteuse on stage.

> _"You know I can’t stand it_   
>  _You’re runnin’ around_   
>  _You know better daddy_   
>  _I can’t stand it cause you put me down_
> 
> _I put a spell on you_   
>  _Because you’re mine_   
>  _You’re mine"_

"Cabaret singer in another life?" Ianto asked, though the normal smart-assed tone he used in dealing with Jack had fled only to be replaced by something rougher.

Jack started and then laughed softly as he realized what he’d done. "Hey, I made a great Mata Hari in the day. Had quite the following too."

"Why does this not surprise me?" Ianto murmured as they swayed to the music. He hadn’t moved away from Jack, and each step they took slid their bodies against each other and rubbed their cheeks together. "Jack Harkness, homme fatal."

"Not anymore," Jack replied quietly. "I’ve met my match. Now I’m just waiting for him to realize it too."

"Harkness..." Ianto began before smiling and shaking his head shallowly. "Let’s just dance, hmm?"

"I can do that," Jack grinned. "And what can I say? I’m constantly pushing the boundaries. Feel free to smack me into line—can’t promise I won’t enjoy it though."

"Somehow I gathered that would be the fact," Ianto snorted before laughing as well. "If you didn’t, I might think you had been replaced with an imposter."

"Hey, I’ll try _almost_ anything at least once. I leave the poodles to my ex-partner in the Time Agency, and tentacle sex still grosses me out—those suction cups," Jack shuddered and then grinned. "But other than that… almost anything."

"Kinky bastard, but then I know that from watching Jake come in when you were together."

"And I bet you secretly wanted to know just what we got up to, didn’t you?" Jack purred, nipping at Jones’s ear playfully, "either that or you wanted to be in one of our places—which one, I wonder? Jake or me?"

"Fuckwit," Ianto snorted, "as if I’m daft enough to answer that."

"A man can dream," Jack chuckled. "Or fantasize," he amended, "which is a distinct possibility tonight."

"Well, you do have the distinct advantage of having seen the real thing."

"Only once. Barely a tease and nowhere near enough. But I’m being good, remember?"

"As good as you can be, anyway."

"I’m trying; that has to count for something, right?"

Ianto pulled back and smiled slightly. "Actually, it does and not in the way you think."

"Okay, you lost me there," Jack admitted after staring at Jones for a few seconds. "Gonna fill me in?"

"Nope," Ianto grinned. "Live with it."

"Well fuck," Jack pouted. "I _hate_ being kept in the dark. At least say you’ll tell me eventually?"

"Eventually, you have my word."

"Well, I guess I have no choice but to live with it," Jack grumbled. "Unless I get John to fix my wrist strap for me and then I can jump ahead and find out!"

"Word of advice, Harkness, don’t go mucking about time or getting Doc all excited about it either; those protocols still aren’t done, and I’d rather not fly by the seat of our pants if something happened."

"Killjoy," Jack muttered, "but you’re right. Anyhow, I’m used to waiting; seems like all I’ve done for the last century or so is wait. Besides, you’re worth it."

"Mind me asking what you spent centuries waiting for—or are you going to hold my not answering your question against me?" Ianto asked.

"Who," Jack corrected. "Who I spent centuries waiting for was the other John—the Doctor. After Bad Wolf, uh, the events on Satellite 5, which was a very nasty live action game station in the far distant future, I didn’t know what had happened to me or why. All I knew was that I couldn’t truly die any more. I’d die, sometimes gruesomely, and come back—but I had no clue why that was. So I figured the Doctor would be able to reverse it, somehow, find a way for me go grow old and die—or to just die, or to at least tell me what the hell happened," Jack said with a shrug. "When I finally did catch up to him, the Doctor reacted like I was carrying the plague that would kill him. Did wonders for my ego, let me tell you...

"Apparently what I am is anathema to what he is, my oil to his water. I made his skin crawl yadda yadda. But he did explain eventually, and we worked it out. We have—had—a tenuous understanding of mutual respect and liking, but I fell under the ‘don’t contact me unless it’s the end of the universe’ type of friend. Can’t blame him for that if I was so abhorrent to him, which I tried very hard not to take personally. Either way, I helped him save the universe—or universes—a few times after that.

"After my world fell apart, he somehow knew and showed up in a bar I was trying to drink myself to death in. He hauled me into the TARDIS, sobered me up, and then he sent me here. He may not have been able to fix me, but at least he gave me the next best thing—a new life. That’s probably a bit more information than you were expecting, hunh?"

"Thank you," Ianto said in the quiet as the singer took a break and left the small stage. "For answering my question, I mean. I appreciate it, especially as I really didn’t answer yours."

"You can always ask me anything you want to, Jones," Jack replied with an easy smile, keeping one hand wrapped around the younger man’s waist as they made their way back to their table. "I can’t guarantee I’ll answer, but you can definitely ask me. How else are you going to get to know me better?"

"A very good question," Ianto commented as they sat and picked up their drinks, and he leaned over, clinking their glasses together.

"To beginnings, relationships and a brave new universe of possibilities," Jack toasted Jones. "And to always having questions to ask. Anything else you want to know?"

Ianto’s expression turned musing, then his lips curved into a small grin. "Just where is it that you’re getting that coffee?" he asked, turning the conversation from serious topics to lighter ones again.

"I must regretfully decline to answer that question as you don’t have the proper security clearance to know the location of that particular national treasure," Jack laughed. "Tell you what, I’ll tell you on our one-year anniversary when I know that you’re hooked," he rejoined with a wicked smirk.

"Fuckwit," Ianto snorted, shaking his head though he chuckled in amusement.

~*~*~

"You had best have a good reason for not picking me up at the airport."

The words were all the warning Ianto had before a cushion flew through the air, hitting the doorframe where his head had been the moment before. Thanking Torchwood training and quick reflexes, he grinned sheepishly at the curvy blonde who was glowering at him, her blue eyes narrowed into slits.

"Sorry, it was work," he pleaded. "You know, saving the world and all that bother? Couldn’t really break off a chase just because my little sister was coming into town."

"I waited at Heathrow for two hours," Claire huffed before finally relenting and launching herself across the room to hug him. "You owe me cab fare."

"And you’ve been drinking my best Bordeaux," Ianto shot back with a wry chuckle as he spied the open bottle on the coffee table. "I’d say that puts us about even."

"As if you wouldn’t have opened it anyway," Claire laughed, pulling back to look Ianto over. "Well, no new scars that I can see, that’s for the good."

"I’d have to agree with that," he nodded, closing and locking the door and pulling off his heavy leather jacket before sliding an arm around her shoulders as they walked back to the living room, pausing only to collect a glass for himself. Claire poured his wine and refilled her own glass while Ianto built a fire in the hearth to combat the damp November chill.

"So, just what were you saving the UK from this time?" Claire asked before taking a sip of her wine and tucking her feet up under herself.

"You know the answer to that question."

"Get the right clearance, and you’ll tell me," she sighed. "Come this time next year, I _will_ have it; your bosses promised me a job once I have my doctorate, and I’ll be finished by then."

"Not all of my bosses," Ianto murmured, causing Claire to looked at him, her eyebrows vanishing beneath her fringe as they rose.

"And what do you mean by that?"

"Field Ops has someone new in charge, an American."

"And?"

"He’s known Rose and Doc for years. He’s... very good at the job, has a world of experience." Ianto paused, staring at the ruddy glow of the firelight. "I trust his decisions. We may butt heads from time to time, but I’d follow wherever he leads."

"Oh really?"

"And what do you mean by that?" Ianto asked mildly, looking away from the fire to study his younger sister, who was watching him intently.

"Does this boss of yours have a name?" Claire asked in return.

"Does it matter?"

"I’m just curious; aren’t I allowed that?"

Ianto’s expression turned wry at that. "His name is Harkness, Jack Harkness."

"That introduction makes him sound a bit like James Bond."

"If you saw him, you’d say he has the look as well." Ianto paused, considered the remark, then corrected himself. "Or perhaps not; he’s more the American screen idol type than the suave secret agent."

"Oh _really_?" Claire’s amusement was clear from her tone. "When can I meet this stud of a man?"

"He’d eat you up and spit you out without even trying, darling so don’t even try."

Claire sipped her wine before smiling sweetly. "Want him to yourself then, do you?"

"What? No, that’s not it at all," Ianto argued before cursing and rubbing his free hand over the back of his neck. "Where are you getting that idea from?"

"From your attitude, brother dear; you’re fighting it, but you’re interested in him and as more than a shag, I wager."

"Had that already," Ianto muttered, scowling as Claire’s eyes widened.

"You didn’t!"

"It wasn’t like that," he sighed. "And it’s… complicated."

"Complicated how?"

"He’s… just coming out of a relationship; his partner was killed, and he believes it was his fault."

"Was it?"

Ianto shook his head and looked down at the ruby wine in his glass. "I believe his partner went into the situation knowing that might have been the outcome."

"And that’s why you’re leery of trying things with this boss of yours?" Claire asked.

"When you combine both of those aspects, yes." Claire remained quiet and Ianto watched as she mulled over his comment, each minute change of expression causing him to wonder just what she was thinking.

"Then you seem to have a problem, don’t you?"

"And just what problem is that?"

"The fact that you’re arguing against something you obviously want," Claire chuckled. "And Ianto, you’ve never been one to deny yourself what you want."

"Claire…" Ianto growled, going silent before beginning to laugh helplessly. "You’re right; I want him, and I like him; if that wasn’t the case, that one time would have been enough to get it out of my system—his too, I suppose, when it comes down to it."

"And?"

"And I suppose the move is mine now, so I’m going to have to make it."


	26. Chapter 26

"Present for you," Donna sang out as she walked into Jack’s office early Monday morning. "Reports, reports and more reports, and, if you’re lucky, some junk mail as well." She dropped the pile of papers on his desk, patted him on the head, and sashayed out, calling, "Have a fun read," over her shoulder, nearly running into someone as she left.

"Ianto! What are you doing here, hrmmm?" Donna asked, a knowing twinkle in her eyes that had the young man looking somewhat uncomfortable.

"Just dropping off some final reports before I head out."

"Aha..." she said knowingly. "Well, have a lovely holiday; don’t do anything that Ru and I wouldn’t."

"Doesn’t count out much, does it?" he called, laughing when Donna merely waved. His smile died away, leaving a serious expression as he carried the neatly squared reports into Jack’s office and set them on the table next to the pile Donna had just left.

"Alpha Team reports from Cardiff, chronological, summarized and detailed. Notable events are tagged, though you’ve been notified of those already."

Jack looked up from his report and smiled at Jones. "Thanks, I have every faith that it’s all in order. Have a great time wherever it is you’re off to this time, and try come back relaxed. I won’t say rested because who knows what you’ll get up to," he laughed, blatantly running his eyes over the tight fatigues and tighter shirt in appreciation. "However, that being said, at least aim for relaxed. I’ll be here waiting." Jack knew the double meaning of his words was obvious, but it was also true. Jack would wait for Jones for however long it took. End of story.

"I plan on it," Ianto answered, a slight smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. "And I’d still suggest looking over the reports; you never know what might show up in them. Have a good week, Harkness; try not to get killed, will you?"

Jack dutifully moved the reports to the bottom of his pile and then, at Jones’ cocked eyebrow, moved them up closer to the top. When the eyebrow didn’t descend, he laughed.

"You want to be the one to explain to Donna why all the team expense reports aren’t signed off on for accounts payable to take care of—namely the damages owed tax payers? Didn’t think so," he chuckled. "And I’ll have a mundane week of paper pushing with the occasional bout of suicide when I blow my brains out from the sheer boredom of it all or having to deal with Anders while you’re gone. But don’t worry, I’ll be as handsome as ever when you get back. Now, don’t you have a plane to catch, drink or two to pour, and a good time to have?"

"Just making sure you have what you need, Harkness," Ianto said mildly. "And add a few more drinks to that agenda and you’ll have it about right." He raised a hand in half a salute and turned, breaking into a jog the moment he was out of Jack’s office.

"Sounds like what I’ll be having tonight—I’ll just be doing it alone," Jack sighed as he picked up the report he’d been reading when Jones first walked in. "Good thing you’re worth the wait, Ianto Jones. In any universe."

Two hours later, Donna peered around the door, frowning when she saw him still sitting behind his desk. "Oi! What are you still doing here?" she demanded.

"Remember the stack of reports you put on my desk this morning, the one that was as high as my leg is long?" Jack replied quizzically. "What is it with you people? First you hand me a stack, then Jones does and actually looks annoyed with me when I don’t move his to the top of the pile. It’s hard enough trying not to play favorites without the pressure from said favorite," Jack groaned.　"At this rate I may be eating that bullet sooner than later. Best have Doc stand by, there might be a mess to clean up in, oh, another hour or so."

"Men!" Donna groaned, stomping over to Jack’s desk, snatching the pile of reports from him and digging through him until she finally found what she was looking for. "Read this, will you, you idiot!" she ordered, pushing a folder into his hands. "I swear, Rose should just have sent you down there..."

"What the hell are you going on about, Red?" Jack grumbled but opened the report and began to read. Then stopped, closed it to make sure it was the report he thought it was and opened it again. "Well I’ll be... if this is one of Jenkins’ attempts at a practical joke I’ll use Doc’s particle destabilizer on his balls!" Jack promised darkly.

Donna leaned in and smacked Jack on the back of the head at that. "Who gave you the reports? Who hasn’t seen you in a month? Who checked with Rose to clear your next week’s schedule so you could get your arse on the bloody plane and make like the gorgeous monkeys I know you’ll be!"

Jack gaped at his assistant for a second, and then a huge smile spread over his face as the implications of her words sunk in. "He missed me? Whattaya know, the gorgeous son of a bitch actually missed me!" Jack crowed as he stood and rounded the desk to snatch Donna up, spinning her around as he planted a huge kiss on her cheek. "Tell Rose you need a raise and I need to take her dancing—once she finishes puking every time you look at her cross eyed, that is.　I gotta go pack! I have a plane to catch!"

"Look in your closet here," she said dryly though she was grinning widely. "And no mentioning making Rose hurl; she starts then I start—and no, I am not in the family way, thank you!"

Jack almost ripped open the door to the closet he never used only to see a suitcase sitting on the floor as pretty as you please.　Picking it up, he eyed Donna in amusement. "Enjoy going through my underwear drawer, Red? Oh wait, I don’t have one!" he teased, bussing her on the cheek as he headed for the door.　"How long does it take to get to Heathrow from here?　Crap, I need a ride because I’m not leaving a Torchwood vehicle unattended for a week... Wait, let me guess, car and driver waiting downstairs, course laid in and get my ass in gear?" he asked.

Donna only gave him a withering look and made a shooing motion with both hands. "And if you both don’t come back with smiles on your faces, you’re fired!"

"Yes ma’am!" Jack saluted smartly and then headed for the express elevator down.

~*~*~

Eight and a half hours later London time, Jack looked up from the directions in his ‘report’ at the isolated bungalow on a long strip of beach away from the main resort. The bright sunlight lit up the teakwood bungalow with its palm-covered roof which only helped to heighten the feel of being in a tropical paradise. However, it could have been a shack for all that Jack was cognizant of the gorgeous surroundings. His entire focus was on the man sprawled on the lounger in the sand near the bungalow, shirtless and gleaming like a bronzed god in his rolled up, white cotton trousers. Walking the last few steps to the edge of the lounger, Jack let his bag slip through almost nerveless fingers to land with a dull thud on the sand. "Finally read your report—after Donna had to beat me over the head for being an idiot and not reading it first," he joked after finding his voice at last

"Always knew she was smarter than you," Ianto murmured, setting a nearly empty bottle of lager down in the sand near a bucket of ice containing several more and just as many empties. He pushed to his feet and pulled Jack in for a slow, devouring kiss.

Jack groaned and melted into the kiss for a few moments, savoring the taste of beer and Jones. But soon it wasn’t enough to just enjoy; wrapping his arms around Jones’ waist, Jack returned the kiss with fervor until the need for oxygen became more pressing than making sure to map every millimeter of the other man’s mouth. "Fuck, I was beginning to wonder if you’d ever make a move," Jack gasped as he caught his breath. "And then you do this. Talk about going big instead of going home. I gotta say, I like your style, Jones."

"What, no ‘I was right’?" Ianto chuckled before nipping at Jack’s lower lip as his hands explored his back. "As for the place, this way we have privacy when we want it, and for when we don’t, the resort is available—plus I decided that a week might be enough time for the initial rounds."

"For now," Jack agreed, taking another step forward so that he was pressed from knee to chest against the younger man. "And yes, you were right and definitely worth waiting for," he murmured. "So, I’m thinking I’m a bit overdressed. Got any suggestions on what to wear?"

Ianto took a step to the side, brushing the length of their bodies together as he bent to grab Jack’s suitcase. "Grab the beer, would you, and I’ll show you rather than tell you." The last was added with a sly smile before Ianto turned and walked up the steps to the building and, pulling the screen door open, ushered Jack into the wood-floored bungalow. Not giving him time to study the furnishings, Ianto herded Jack back to the master bedroom that overlooked the ocean below.

"Guess you really did miss me," Jack murmured as he felt the back of his legs hit something. A quick glance behind revealed a king-sized bed but not much else as he was suddenly falling backwards onto the luxurious mattress beneath him with Jones following him down and blanketing him before he had so much as a chance to let out more than a startled ‘oof’.

"I’ll take that as a yes," Jack finally managed to get out, his arms wrapping loosely around Jones’ waist, thumbs sliding underneath the waistband of the loose cotton trousers to brush back and forth over the dimple at the base of the younger man’s spine. Staring up into startlingly blue eyes, Jack chuckled softly. "Looks like you’ve got me at your mercy, boss. So what’re you gonna do with me?"

"Never had my lunch, so I suppose I’ll have to eat you all up," Ianto purred, nipping Jack’s chin before slithering backward, undoing the buttons on Jack’s shirt and pushing the fabric back, his mouth following the path as the fabric moved aside.

"Like I’d say no to that," Jack laughed, spreading his arms above his head in surrender. "Do your worst, Ianto Jones. I dare you!"

The younger man looked up at that, his blue eyes going dark with desire before he dove in again, licking, sucking, and biting at the exposed expanse of Jack’s chest even as he pushed up to his knees to blindly work at his trousers, dragging them downward as much as possible given his current position.

Gasping at the sensual assault, Jack had to force himself not to reach down and grab hold of Jones’ head or caress him or touch him. "Fuck, you really are a _wild_ boy, aren’t you?" he managed to moan breathlessly and then strained his neck upwards to kiss Jones hungrily. "And we’ve got seven incredible days of this. How’d I get so lucky?"

"Five," Ianto growled against Jack’s lips before moving down again, biting the ridge of Jack’s hipbone as he dragged off his boots, pants and trousers, leaving the other man totally bare. "And you’re mine for all of them."

"I’m yours for as long as you want me," Jack replied seriously despite being slammed with ever increasing need. "Fuck, Jones, you’re killing me here!" he gasped and bucked as the sultry, ocean-drenched air settled over his now naked skin like a blanket. "So fucking dommy—should have known from the way you bossed me around in Cardiff," he teased. "Seriously turned me on, I might add."

Ianto laughed, the sound rough with want. "Thought I seriously pissed you off," he breathed against Jack’s hip before darting over and swallowing Jack’s cock down, his throat muscles working around the flared head.

"I was sublimating," Jack gasped. "And sleeping with your—oh fuck me!--friend and teammate at the time. Christ! Jones!" Jack couldn’t resist any longer. His hands came down to fist the younger man’s hair, holding on for dear life as Jones all but consumed him. "Weren’t—oh fuck oh fuck oh fuck—kidding when you said you were—shit!--hungry," Jack howled as he fought against the urge to come far too soon. Ianto rolled with each move he made, and the slurping sounds he made were obscenely loud in the near silence. Closing his hands around Jack’s ass, Jones urged him to move in the only way available to him as Ianto ground his own hips against the mattress.

Beating his head against the mattress, Jack stuffed one fist in his mouth, biting down hard enough to taste blood, but to no avail. With a shattered cry he came so hard that his vision went white for a few seconds, and when it cleared, he was a shuddering, gasping wreck, Jones looking down at him, a smug smile curving his lips.

"Feeling a little less tense now, Harkness?"

"You are a complete and total bastard," Jack laughed breathlessly, tugging Jones up to kiss him wildly, scouring the younger man’s mouth with his tongue and tasting a combination of himself and Jones. It made his rapidly softening cock jerk in rebellion. "And you’re abso-fucking-lutely fabulous too," Jack continued, bringing a leg up to rub Jones’ erection lightly. "But you’re still too tense. Guess you need to fuck me. Now."

Ianto pulled back just enough to look down at him, at the same time rocking his hips against Jack’s leg, his leaking precome dampening the flesh. "Thought you weren’t doing that right now—not that I’m contemplating turning down the offer."

"Not to bring the past into the present but I used to; I just couldn’t before now. I wasn’t ready to trust someone that much again. Then this not-so-little prick started driving me insane, and I found out that I wasn’t quite as ready to give up on life as I thought I was. Imagine my shock as said not-so-little prick got under my skin and wormed his way into places I thought were dead and buried," Jack chuckled. "I guess what I’m trying to say is that I trust you, Jones. And I want you to fuck me."

"You are a piece of work, Harkness," Ianto murmured before kissing him again, at the same time reaching for the slick he had left on the bedside table, spreading the gel on his fingers before straightening up on his knees, one hand splayed on Jack’s stomach while the other moved between his thighs, a single digit slipping into his ass.

"I’d rather be your piece of ass right now, if it’s all the same to you," Jack groaned and brought his feet up to the edge of the bed and then let them fall to either side, splaying himself for Jones’ attention.

"And that definitely isn’t work." A second finger slid in with the next stroke, the tight ring of muscle stretching around them as Ianto worked them deeper, smirking as he felt the soft bump of Jack’s prostate and rubbed against it.

"I fucking well hope not considering this is supposed to be a—oh sweet holy fuck!--vacation!" Jack gasped and, impossibly, his limp dick twitched and began to slowly revive under Jones’ deft touch.

"Quite the recovery time for a man of your age," Ianto chuckled, leaning in to lick a stripe up Jack’s lengthening flesh, twisting his fingers before pulling them back so that he could slick his cock, position himself, and press inside, his hands sliding up Jack’s torso to frame his face as he dove in for another kiss.

Jack’s mouth opened in a gasp just in time to be invaded by Jones’ tongue, and his hands fisted on the younger man’s back as he was penetrated for the first time in this universe. It was like riding a bike, you never forgot, but it was also brand new and filled him with burning, shuddering sensation. "Jones," Jack murmured when his mouth was released while eyes that he didn’t even know he’d shut opened to stare into the younger man’s gorgeously expressive eyes. "You feel fucking amazing."

"Just don’t tell me you’ve flipped to being a complete bottom," Ianto panted, holding himself still until he regained control, then beginning to move, staring down at Jack’s passion-drugged features even as he lowered his body to graze the other man’s renewed erection, the move drawing a groan from him as Harkness tightened around him.

"Ha!" Jack managed to get out on a breath of air. "Just you wait until later; your ass is mine," Jack groaned, his left hand coming up to tangle in Jones’ hair in order to tug him down for another kiss. Their lips clung and parted; breath was shared; and Jack’s legs came back up to wrap around the younger man’s waist, pulling Jones in harder with each thrust, making them both gasp and buck even faster.

"Christ, Jack..." Ianto gasped, aiming a flurry of strokes at the other man’s prostate, driving himself to the edge and over in the effort, his hands fisting in Harkness’ hair as he came.

"That’s it, babe," Jack whispered, kissing a path down the younger man’s neck and across his throat. "I can feel you filling me. Jones... Ianto," Jack murmured, moving his head back up to recapture Jones’ mouth hungrily as he deliberately tightened down on Jones’ cock, feeling the younger man gasp and buck above him even as Ianto worked a hand between them and closed it around Jack’s cock.

"Your turn," he growled against Jack’s mouth before sucking on his tongue even as his fingers tightened around the thick flesh filling them, jerking Jack off as he continued to move in him.

"Fuck, too soon!" Jack gasped but nevertheless responded to Jones’ deft manipulations. The gun calluses on Jones’ fingers dragged and pulled on his still too sensitive flesh, and Jack knew he couldn’t last much longer. And then the bastard prick’s hips twisted just the right way, and Jack’s prostate received a direct hit which had him gasping and arching and seeing stars as he fought for breath and consciousness.

Ianto rode out Jack’s convulsions, groaning out his own pleasure as the contractions around him sent shocks of lingering pleasure zinging up his nerves. Jack lay still beneath him, gasping for breath, and Ianto leaned his weight on one forearm and dragged his fingers through the warm liquid splattered between them as he drew his hand upward, indolently licking them clean as he waited for Jack to recover.

"A bastard and a prick," Jack gasped as he watched Jones lap Jack’s come off his fingers. "I will be returning the favor, and then we’ll see if you’re still wearing that smug little grin," he threatened direly, his hand coming up to wrap around Jones’ wrist so that Jack could tug it down to his level and finish cleaning up his mess.

"You think that counts as a threat to me, Harkness?" Ianto laughed, his gaze locked on the other man’s tongue sliding over his fingers. "And as for the first, never denied either, so that doesn’t hurt."

Jack groaned. "A smart-mouthed bastard prick," he sighed. "Good thing I like you just the way you are. C’mere and kiss me with that nasty mouth of yours," Jack ordered, wrapping his free hand around the back of Jones’ neck and tugging him down to the right angle and level. Jones moved willingly and proved just how nasty his mouth could be by exploring every inch of Jack’s mouth with lips, teeth and tongue.

"So," he chuckled when they finally came up for air, "just how many reports did you get through before Donna had to point you toward the important one"

"I was reading those blasted essays from Hades for two hours," Jack groaned. "I was actually contemplating a bullet to the brain just to get out of it when she came in and smacked me upside the head and called me all sorts of names.

"So, how long did it take you to decide I really meant what I said about wanting to be with you and that I wasn’t just trying to recreate my old relationship?" Jack countered. "Apart from my rather pathetic attempt at courting you, that is. I’m afraid I’m a little rusty on the techniques, not having had to use them in at least a century or so," he admitted with a wry grin.

"Christ, that word..." Ianto gave a full-body shudder, grinning at the reaction that got him. "And your so-called stealth-romancing—not quite that covert." He chuckled as he spoke and ran a hand over Jack’s chest. "Fine, the truth. I knew it even before you asked me on that date though it wasn’t until Cardiff that I realized I had it bad as well. I missed you, missed pissing and moaning at you and getting it right back, and hell, if we could both survive that, well, then, that’s more than half the married couples on the planet have—not that I’m suggesting we get married!"

Jack chuckled at the younger man’s reaction. "Yeah, a little too soon for that," he agreed. "Not that I have anything against marriage. I’ve done it a few, okay more than a few, times," he admitted wryly. "What can I say; I’ve lived a long and varied life."

Wrapping his arms around Jones’ waist, Jack rolled them over and blanketed the younger man with his body, their sweaty flesh sticking together almost immediately. "And, okay, not so covert but at least I can be completely open about it now. I’m not going to stop _courting_ you, just because you realized you missed pissing and moaning at me. Get used to it, Jones; I _like_ being able to court you or woo you or spoil you or just do nice things for you—whatever works best."

"Hello, male here, I don’t need any wooing or courting." Ianto watched as Jack’s expression started to morph into a pout. "Fine, fine, far be it for me to ruin your fun." He stroked a hand down Jack’s back before catching Jack’s mouth and kissing the pout away.

Jack chuckled inwardly. Pushover for a disappointed look, he had to remember that and hold it in reserve for special occasions. "Admit it," he said at last after Jones had finally let him up for air. "You like it, and you know it. You like the coffee in the morning and being the first to get to try out one of Doc’s new toys—well, after I make sure it doesn’t blow up in anyone’s face, that is."

Ianto sighed at that but finally grinned. "You know my weaknesses—of course, as my boss, you should also know that this is going to end up with Anders in front of you complaining."

"And why would Anders be complaining?" Jack asked, suddenly all business. "No, let me guess, he thinks I’m playing favorites? Tough shit. When Alpha team isn’t around, his team has first crack at trying them. You’re Alpha team for a reason—you’re the best. And you established that long before I showed up." Jack caught himself before he said more and got well and truly pissed.

Taking a deep breath, he let it out slowly and regrouped. "However, my personal feelings on insecure team leads aside, you’re right; I shouldn’t let your kids have all the fun; it’s not fair," Jack agreed far too quickly, not wanting to upset the delicate balance of the week before it had actually started.

"I guess that means no more trying out Doc’s new toys before any other ops team. But I’m still bringing you coffee, and I’m sure as hell not going to sleep with Anders just to make him feel special. That’s one of the few things guaranteed to kill my libido dead. I’d take a Slitheen over him any day of the week!"

"Pardon me? Did you just say that because we’re sleeping together, the team isn’t going to get to play with Doc’s new stuff? We earned that right and not on our backs, Harkness!"

Jack groaned, wanting nothing more than to bang his head against a wall, and held up his hands in supplication. "You’re right, you did—I never meant to infer otherwise. You can keep testing Doc’s new stuff, but you work it out with R&D. I’m staying completely out of this. And shooting myself for even opening my mouth."

Ianto listened to Jack’s speech, a smile tugging at the corners of his lips, and by the end was laughing uproariously. "Damn, you’re easy to get going, Harkness," he snickered when he could breathe again.

"Hey, far be it from me if you want the rumor mill to start churning. There will not be, however, a repeat of the Field Ops fight club, got it? Because I don’t want to have to suspend you, Jones, but I will if it happens; I’d have no choice considering I’m the one who made up that damned rule," Jack grumbled.

"Has there even been a whisper of my breaking that rule? Now c’mon, Harkness, we both need showers." With that, Ianto rolled out of the bed, grinning down at Jack as he stretched.

"Have I said that? Besides, I wouldn’t blame you if you did. Hell, _I_ want to go a few rounds with Anders every damned time he enters my office," Jack admitted laughingly as he followed Jones up and out of bed, crowding the younger man until he could steal another kiss. "So, shower and then maybe you can give me the grand tour—or we can find something else to amuse ourselves."

"Oh, I think things will... come up," Ianto smirked, sliding his arm around Jack’s waist and leading him toward a set of French doors that opened out onto a small area that was enclosed by luxurious greenery. Letting go of Jack, he walked over to a set of knobs on the wall and turned them, sending a stream of cool water falling from the large showerhead far above them.

Jack wolf whistled in appreciation. "Now this is definitely my kind of place," he informed Jones as he moved under the spray. "Now tell me we can swim naked, and I’ll be in heaven."

"Private beach, of course we can," Ianto said as he stepped under the spray, letting it roll down over his up-turned face, opening his eyes as he looked over at Jack. "Pretty damn close to heaven."

"As close as I’ll ever get, anyway," Jack agreed easily as he grabbed a bottle of what seemed to be body wash and, pouring some into his hands, began to slowly lather up Jones’ chest and abs. "Well, other than this," he amended, eyes raking over the younger man in blatant appreciation.

"Of course what I’m thinking isn’t really suited for heaven."

Jack raised an eyebrow speculatively. "Oh, now you can’t just make that sort of a statement without some follow up, Jones. Details if you please," he requested as one hand came around the younger man’s waist while the other soapy hand wrapped around his cock.

Ianto glanced down and chuckled, shaking the water from his eyes when he tilted his head up again. "At the moment, I’m thinking that the lads were right when they named you ‘sex-machine’," he laughed before groaning as Jack’s agile fingers teased him. "And I was thinking that eventually we were going to have to fuck in here—and that it would be hot if the beach wasn’t quite private and people were listening in—I’m a perv, I know," the last was added with a rueful chuckle.

"In my defense, that first time you saw Jake was the first time I’d had sex in a while. I had some time to make up," Jack replied with a straight face. "Besides Jake gave as good as he got; I just don’t bruise. And I like your pervy side, Mr. Jones. It’s quite refreshing!"

"You don’t have to tell me about Jake; I know just how good he gives it." As he spoke, Ianto curved an arm around Jack’s neck and pulled him in for a kiss. "And is that refreshing as compared to the pain-in-your-ass side?"

"I dunno, I rather like the pain you gave my ass," Jack rejoined as he began to stroke Jones slowly. "I actually meant that most 21st century humans of both sexes tend to be a little more, shall we say, repressed than I am. Oh, it’s a century of vices, don’t get me wrong, and oh what vices. But at the heart of it they still have more in common with their prudish past than their enlightened future. So yeah, I like your sides very much."

"And my front," Ianto murmured the words as he arched into Jack’s grip, "and eventually I’m guessing you’re going to get to my back."

"Gonna get to every last inch of you," Jack promised as he began to nibble on the side of Jones’ neck before moving up to work his way back along the younger man’s jaw to his mouth. "I plan on feasting to the point of gluttony."

"One of my favorite sins," was murmured against his lips before they were taken in a slow, sensual, claiming kiss even as Ianto’s hands explored what they could reach of his back and sides.

Jack made an assenting sound as he focused on the way Jones felt in his arms and on his lips. When they finally came up for air, he smiled mischievously. "Think we can get through all the deadlys and most of the venals this week?"

"If we don’t, I’m going to be very disappointed in us."

"Now we wouldn’t want to disappoint you, would we?" Jack chuckled, maneuvering them until Jones was pressed up against the cold, wet tile of the only wall in the shower. "So are you a screamer, Ianto Jones? Because if we’re going to make the passersby blush and stammer, we need lots more noise."

One corner of Ianto’s mouth curved upward as his hand slid down to cup and squeeze Jack’s ass. "Why don’t you see if you can find out? After all, what’s life without a little challenge?"

The gaze that Jack turned on Jones was predatory and hungry. "Oh, you really shouldn’t have said that," he murmured as he bent to steal a devouring kiss. "Didn’t they teach you about self-preservation at Torchwood school?" Dropping to his knees in a deceptively graceful motion, Jack wrapped his hands steel-like around Jones’ waist, pinning him to the wall even as he bent and practically inhaled the younger man’s cock with an audible slurp. Oh yes, he would make Jones scream before they were done out here. And then Jack planned on doing it again. And again. And again.

"’Course they did, didn’t pay much attention in that class," Ianto murmured, his head falling back against the tiles as the cool spray fell over and around them. Jack’s mouth was inferno hot around his cock, the wet suction surrounding him bringing him to full arousal in seconds. He moaned, his hands fisting in Jack’s hair, and leaned fully against the wall, willing to let the other man do as he wanted this time, interested in seeing just where the trip would take them. He’d scream, oh he knew that, but damn, it was going to be a hell of a ride.

Jack made a tsking sound around the object in his mouth and followed it up with a chuckle as Jones groaned quietly and then more loudly as he was subjected to the rippling of Jack’s throat. Jack took one hand off Jones’ waist and groped around blindly, searching for a bottle of something that could be used as an improvised lube. He made a triumphant gurgle as his hand snagged a plastic bottle even as he continued to slide his mouth from the base of Jones’ cock to its tip and back down.

It was old hat to get his fingers slicked with one hand, and Jack was nothing if not thankful for his long centuries of ‘research’ which now allowed him to pleasure Jones to madness. Reaching between Jones’ legs, spread wide for balance, Jack felt his way to his lover’s hole and slid two fingers in easily, finger fucking Jones with lazy strokes while he continued to expertly use his mouth and throat on Jones’ cock.

"This is supposed to make me scream?" Ianto asked, his voice lazy and rough. "Kiddie ride at best so far."

Jack pulled off Jones’ cock with a slurping sound. "Just getting you relaxed enough, babe," he chuckled. "Donna wants us to come back with smiles on our faces, not limping and in pain."

"Excuses, excuses," Ianto smirked, knowing the expression was like a red flag to Harkness.

All of Jack’s carefully thought out plans went out the window at the first hint of that oh so aggravating grin, and he was on his feet, fingers out of Jones’ ass, spinning the younger man around so that he was facing the wall before Jack even knew what he was doing. "You’re just bound and determined to be a brat, aren’t you?" Jack growled softly next to Jones’ ear as he crowded up against that delicious body. "I’m tempted to warm your ass for you, but I have better things to do with it—right now anyways."

Not bothering with any additional prep, Jack took himself in hand, lined up and pushed in with one steady motion. One hand came around to wrap around Jones’ cock while the other wormed its way between the cool shower tile and Jones’ heated skin in order to randomly pull and twist his nipples. Gliding his lips over a lean, well defined shoulder, Jack reached the juncture of neck and collarbone and clamped down with his teeth, wanting to leave his mark for the entire world to see that Jones was his. And Jack wasn’t letting go until he was told to!

"Don’t like the kiddie rides, hmmm?" Jack purred as he began to thrust, hard and fast, his fingers dancing over Jones’ chest and cock even as his mouth licked and sucked and nibbled its way across the back of the younger man’s shoulders and neck. "Guess that means you can handle sudden surprises then."

The hand around Jones’ cock suddenly squeezed down, almost vise-like, and stopped moving. "Time to see just how much you can take, Jones," Jack murmured as he found the stroke and the angle he wanted and began to fuck the younger man for all they were both worth.

"Anything you can dish out, Harkness," Ianto gasped, clenching down on the other man and feeling the drag as Jack slammed into him again and again, pushing him against the tile, the strong hand around his cock the only thing keeping it from being ground against the wall.

"You’ve got brass ones, I’ll give you that," Jack chuckled dirtily, nipping on Jones’ earlobe as he did. "Let’s test your endurance, shall we?" he murmured as he loosened his hand and started to stroke in counterpoint to his thrusts. "Since you can take it, that is."

Ianto’s body quivered, and he writhed between Jack’s body and the wall, his back pressing against Jack’s chest as he gulped in deep breaths. "Have to say," he panted, "three times in a couple of hours? Not bad for an old man."

"Old in years, not in body," Jack replied immediately. "The body stays exactly as it was when Rose made me a fixed point," Jack said. "I was in my prime then, and I’ve had lots of time to expand my already extensive repertoire."

Coming to a stop, Jack precariously balanced on one foot and reached out with the other to snag the teak shower bench that stood in the opposite corner. It clattered across the wet tile as he pulled it towards them and then positioned it behind him. Hands leaving their respective targets of cock and chest, Jack braced Jones’ waist and then pulled the younger man down with him as he sat on the bench, forcing himself deeper into the lush ass that was clenching him so tightly. "Let’s see how good you are at riding, shall we?"

It took a moment for Ianto to answer as his whole body spasmed at the abrupt change of position, and when he spoke, his voice was low and rough. "Just don’t lose your balance, Harkness," he growled as he began to move, his thighs flexing over and around Jack’s.

One of Jack’s hands snaked around Jones’ waist to stroke his cock a few times, then delved between the younger man’s wide spread legs to play with his balls, rolling and stroking them with the pads of his fingers. "Don’t worry, I won’t dump you on your ass; I have much better uses for it," Jack grunted, more concerned about getting a splinter in his own ass than sending them toppling to the tiles. Leaning forward, Jack placed a line of kisses across the younger man’s deliciously rippling shoulder blades and up to his neck. "I could spend hours just getting to know this gorgeous body of yours—every nook and cranny, every inch of skin and muscle. I think I’m going to have to do that before this week is over."

"Only after I—oh fuck—do it to you," Ianto gasped, reaching back with one hand to grasp Jack’s arm, feeling the muscles flex beneath his palm as Jack played with him. His head fell back, arching his body into a tight bow, and his hips jerked, dragging his body along Jack’s as he groaned.

"Feel free," Jack gasped. "Jesus, you can do anything you want to me. I’m yours to enjoy," Jack replied, panting heavily. Jones was driving him insane, and if he wanted to hear that scream, he had to step up his game. "As for that groan, not bad, a little louder than the last, but nowhere near a scream. C’mon, Jones, you can do better than that."

"Gotta—gotta make me," Ianto got out between heaving breaths though he could feel the cry building at the base of his spine.

"You really do have self-preservation issues," Jack groaned and wrapped both hands around Jones’ waist so that the next time Jones raised himself up, he added his own strength to the downward thrust, forcing Jones to slam down on his cock harder and faster than he’d anticipated, garnering a startled cry from the younger man’s throat, one that was repeated as Jack continued to manhandle him, dragging Jones up and pulling him back down. The sound was given again at a louder volume as Jack’s cock bottomed out, and then Ianto was babbling out pleas as he reached for his own cock.

"Fuck, yeah," Jack growled as he realized what Jones was doing. "That’s it, c’mon, stroke yourself, Ianto, let me see you come," he demanded as he continued to drive into his lover, feeling his balls tighten under the suggestion as well as the stimulation. "Want to do that too, want to sit in a chair and watch you play with yourself, watch you watch me while you jerk off," he murmured. "Want to lick you clean after you’re done, then return the show. Want you to fuck me on that pristine white beach out there, in the shallow water where anyone can see. Want everyone to know that I’m yours." Jack wasn’t even aware of half of what he was saying; all he could focus on was Jones’ hand moving up and down on his cock while impaling himself on Jack’s.

"Harkness—oh fuck yes there," the last was shouted out as Ianto dropped down on Jack’s cock, his hand tightening on his own shaft as he convulsed around Jack, his cries still echoing in his ears.

"Beautiful," Jack murmured, letting go of Jones’ waist on one side so that he could trail his fingers through the mess on Ianto’s stomach before bringing them up to his lips to lick them clean. "You taste even better this time," he groaned as he lapped them clean. Continuing to pump up into the younger man, Jack ran his fingers through Jones’ seed again, this time offering them to the younger man. "Taste us," he whispered in the younger man’s ear.

Ianto could only groan as he opened his mouth and felt Jack’s fingers slip inside so that he could suck on them, the saltiness of the other man’s flesh combining with the muskiness of his own semen.

The feel of Ianto’s tongue swirling around his fingers was the final straw, and Jack thrust upwards one last time, coming with an almost painful shout, his fingers digging into Jones’ waist hard enough to leave bruises.

"Happy now?" Ianto murmured once he’d thoroughly cleaned Jack’s fingers while recovering himself.

"Happier than I ever thought I’d ever be again," Jack replied honestly, his face pressed against Jones’ back as his arms snaked around the younger man’s waist to hold him in a loose grip.

"Glad of it." Ianto’s hands closed over Jack’s arms and squeezed them lightly. "Hope we stay that way but somehow I think the fights are going to be as good as the make up sex."

"Nothing wrong with a good fight," Jack replied quickly. "As long as you don’t let it fester. Besides, considering how much you like to argue with everything I do, I pretty much counted on lots of fights and make up sex in our future," he teased the younger man.

"Only when you’re wrong," Ianto shot back with a chuckle before carefully getting to his feet as he felt Jack’s stomach muscles quiver from supporting them both.

"Excuse me?" Jack raised an eyebrow even as he levered himself up onto his own less than steady feet. "This level of perfection is never wrong, thank you very much!"

A snort answered that pronouncement, and Ianto poked him in the chest, making Jack wobble. "Careful, or you’re going to end up on your oh so perfect ass if you keep it up."

"This oh so perfect ass needs to clean up and lie down for a bit," Jack admitted. "You’re one helluva work out, Jones. I could do with a nap. But only if you join me, that is."

A low snicker escaped Ianto’s lips before he schooled his features and nodded. "A nap would be for the best. You want something to eat before we have that lie down? Supper won’t be delivered for hours."

"Between half a day of reading reports, Donna going all _Taming of the Shrew_ on me—it’s Shakespeare, I’ll explain later if you want," Jack quickly amended, "and the flight here with a fifty-something cougar trying to guess my religion and three rounds with you, I’ve had a full day," Jack argued in his defense. "As for something to eat—I just had my protein; what more do I need?"

"Two licks off a finger hardly qualifies as a meal," Ianto pointed out as he rinsed off under the spray again. "Of course, if standing is too much for you, I could always feed you some grapes in bed..."

"I suddenly feel a fainting spell coming on," Jack replied with a wicked grin. "But we could wander over to a restaurant or something and grab a bite. I wonder if they have Greek food," he added slyly. One of his little ‘courting’ moves had been to get a Greek chef into the canteen at least once a month when Jones wasn’t in Cardiff, just so the younger man could have his favorite food at work.

"We have a meal being delivered at eight," Ianto repeated, catching Jack’s hand and tugging him from the shower after they were both rinsed clean. "Snack now, real food later and then perhaps a walk on the beach in the moonlight if you can move."

"I’m sated and sleepy, not decrepit and unable to move," Jack retorted without heat. "Besides, it’s been a long time since I’ve been in a climate this hot; it makes me want to curl up with a cute guy and sleep the afternoon away. I always did like a good siesta."

"Then let’s dry off and do just that," Ianto chuckled, picking up a towel and running it over Jack’s chest, enjoying the feeling of the warm flesh beneath his hands.

"You’re not going to let me forget that little slip, are you? I foresee many more geriatric references in my future from you."

"Not my fault you’re millennia old, is it?" Ianto gently turned Jack around and dried his back, squatting down to do his legs, his touch lingering over Jack’s cock and balls as he reached around to dry them as well.

"Jesus, Ianto, are you trying to break them?" Jack groaned unthinkingly, and yet his cock made a valiant effort to try and revive itself. "Shit, if my tackle turns out to be a fixed point on its own, I’ll never live it down."

"Just drying you off, Harkness, don’t go getting any funny ideas there," Ianto answered, giving Jack’s cock a final pat before climbing to his feet. "I don’t want to wear you out our first night together."

"Not gonna happen," Jack rejoined immediately, hauling Jones in for a fast kiss. "A lifetime won’t wear me out. Just make me a little sleepy every now and again."

"Then I’ll just remember that and make sure you get your rest," Ianto answered as they walked back inside, Ianto guiding Jack toward the bed and, once he was comfortable, vanishing for a moment, returning with a plate of cool green grapes that he set on the bedside table. Climbing into the bed, he settled himself behind Jack, the other man’s head resting on his shoulder as he brought a grape up to Jack’s lips. "And after you eat some, you can sleep."

"You’re going to spoil me," Jack murmured before biting into the plump flesh and chewing. Catching the next grape in his teeth, he turned his head and tugged Jones down to share it with him, kissing him soundly after they’d swallowed. "If you’re the standard sort of cabana boy for this place, I’m shocked that there isn’t a wait list into the next century," Jack teased as he accepted another grape.

"I’m a one-off commodity," Ianto commented dryly. "And it’s my right to spoil you, just as it’s my right to take the piss out on you."

"Demanding sort, aren’t you?" Jack laughed. "One might even say high maintenance. Good thing I’ve got lots of experience maintaining things."

"Rather hard to be high maintenance when what I’m doing is spoiling you," Ianto pointed out, feeding Jack another grape.

"When you’re not taking the piss out of me," Jack reiterated with a laugh. "I suppose I can live with that, seeing as how I’ve done pretty much the same thing for the past few months. God, if the kids find out, they’re never going to let either of us live this down, you realize?"

Ianto cleared his throat before feeding the next grape to himself to keep from talking.

"What?" Jack asked, looking back up at Jones suspiciously and with dawning dread. "Tell me."

"They... already know."

"Know what?"

"About this week; I wasn’t going into this without telling them first."

"Oh shit, Jake has the spare key to my condo so he can look after my plants for me when I’m out with one of the teams, and he’s in London," Jack groaned. "You don’t think they’ll do anything... rash?"

Ianto only looked at him at that, his eyebrows rising.

"I think I’m screwed—and not by you either," Jack sighed, reaching over to pluck a grape and offer it to Ianto. "Hopefully Alpha’s team lead will protect me," he grinned.

"Well, I can’t deny the lads their fun..." Ianto mused before nibbling the grape from between Jack’s fingers. "But yes, I promise to protect you from my scary team."

"My big, bad ass hero," Jack chuckled. "And you’re the only one I’m willing to let screw me in any capacity, just so we’re clear on the subject."

"Fine with me, my idea of a relationship doesn’t involve sharing," Ianto said easily.

"Been there, done that, have no desire to revisit," Jack replied, taking another grape and feeding it to Jones. "I’ve sowed my intergalactic oats, so to speak."

"Just don’t tell me you’re going to go all missionary style and only on a Saturday night."

Jack began to choke on the grape he’d just started to eat and was forced to spit it out before he inhaled it into a lung. "Fuck, no!" he gasped, in between peals of laughter. "I may not want to sleep with everything that moves, but my libido hasn’t been impacted in any way, shape or form! Good thing you’re just hitting your prime, Jones, otherwise I might have to take stock in Viagra, if they have such a thing here."

"Just making sure," the other man smirked before kissing Jack, offering him a final grape before setting the tray aside. "And now you can nap, Harkness. Did you change time zones yet, or are you thinking it’s evening?"

"Feels like 10:30 to be perfectly honest," Jack admitted with a yawn. "And I haven’t slept well for the past month or so—didn’t like having you in Cardiff without me," he continued as he rolled over Jones’ leg to sprawl on the bed next to the younger man. "I’ve been burning the midnight oil most nights. Hell, Donna’s come in a few times the next day to find me still at my desk. The first few times she just scowled; the last few she’s lectured. She actually threatened to sic Rose on me if I did it again, so this trip was well timed indeed," Jack laughed as he pulled Jones down next to him. "Don’t let me sleep too long; I don’t want to waste a minute more than I have to sleeping."

"Promise," Ianto murmured, sprawling half over Jack’s chest, an arm wrapped around his waist. "And when we wake up, I’ll introduce you to a little piece of tech that makes these jumps a whole lot easier."

"There’s tech to help you get over jet lag? Why hasn’t anyone told me of this?" Jack grumbled into Jones’ shoulder. "Let me guess, Doc? What am I saying; of course it’s Doc’s tech. He’s part genius, part mad scientist with the brain of a Time Lord. Good thing Rose has him whipped or we’d have to have more than just one set of doomsday protocols in place," Jack trailed off, finally succumbing to long weeks of bone-jarring exhaustion.


	27. Chapter 27

Jack watched in amusement from his seat on the power boat as Jones tried his hand at para-gliding. "If humans were meant to fly, you’d have grown wings!" he commented to the younger man over his headset. "Better be careful; you don’t know what’s down there. For all you know you can still have a megaladon alive, and you’d make a lovely little morsel to snack on!"

"As opposed to your morsel?" Ianto laughed back, plainly enjoying the freedom of flight. In between trying to break the bed this week, they’d gone surfing, wandered around the resort, and visited Hamilton.

"Are you complaining that I snack on you?" Jack replied, an eyebrow climbing well above his aviator glasses. "Such a consummate liar, I think I may be a little bit intimidated. Not to mention seriously turned on. You’d be hell to run a con with."

"Fuckwit," Ianto laughed, shaking his head and looking around him. "Gorgeous as this is, it’s more fun when you’re jumping out of a plane."

Jack shuddered at the thought. "For the sake of my tenuous grip on sanity don’t, okay? I just found you, prick; I don’t want to lose you until I absolutely have to if you don’t mind."

"You don’t like jumping out of planes?" Ianto asked, adjusting the small headset he wore. "Hell of a rush."

"I don’t like _you_ jumping out of planes," Jack corrected. "I come back if something goes wrong, Jones. You don’t. I know I can’t protect you or keep you from doing what you love—you’d resent me, and I’d hate myself but... let’s avoid trying kill me by giving me a heart attack if at all possible, okay?"

Ianto was silent a moment. "Do me a favor, Harkness? Stop the boat." When Jack did as he’d asked, he grinned, his teeth showing white in the sunlight. "And don’t have a heart attack; I know what I’m doing."

The grin grew wider as he unclasped the straps holding him to the chute, knifing down into the water behind the boat, letting out a wild whoop as he fell. Surfacing, he shook his head to clear his vision and stroked toward the boat where Jack stood at the stern.

"Son of a... _Ianto_!" Jack was up and out of the seat, getting ready to dive in after the younger man when he broke surface and began to swim towards the boat. Staggering back, Jack landed on the pilot seat, staring at his trembling hands as he tried to calm his racing heart. "Never mind dying of old age, I’m going to kill him myself," Jack murmured faintly, his voice shaking.

Ianto stopped beside the boat, treading water as he grinned up at Jack. "I know, don’t do that again," he said unrepentantly before ducking under the waves for a second, coming up with something in his hand that he tossed onto the boat, the object landing with a wet splat next to Jack.

Jack looked down at the wet fabric lying at his feet, not quite comprehending that what he was staring at was the blindingly hideous swim trunks that Jones had put on for their beach excursion. And then his lover clambered into the boat as naked as he’d been when they’d woken up that morning, a supremely smug grin plastered on his face.

Growling incoherently, Jack picked up the offending fabric and tossed it over the side of the speed boat as he stalked towards Jones. Jones could cover up with a towel, or Jack could drop him off close to their cabana while he returned the boat but only after he’d wiped that smirk off the other man’s face. Taking Jones’s face firmly between his hands, Jack kissed him with all the terror, relief and passion that roiled around inside him at that moment.

"If you ever do that to me again, Ianto Jones, I am going to be seriously pissed," he informed the younger man even as he spun them around and deliberately sent them into a controlled fall that had them landing on the boat’s deck while he reclaimed Ianto’s mouth, preventing him from responding.

The moment they hit the decking, Ianto wrapped his arms and legs around Jack, rubbing against his warm, oiled body. His tongue slid against Jack’s, and he teased it before sucking on the limber length, his burgeoning erection sliding against the tight fabric of Jack’s small trunks.

"You’re such a danger junkie," Jack laughed quietly as he reached a hand back, hooking in the waistband of his trunks and tugging them down enough to leave him pressed skin to skin against Jones. "I’m not an unreasonable man. I can compromise. You don’t tell me, and I won’t ask, okay? And you’d better not die on me either," he ordered the younger man in between raining kisses over Jones’ face and neck.

"That was it," Ianto promised, feeling the shallow tremors still racing through Jack’s body. "A final hurrah if you like." He ran his hands up Jack’s back, the muscles clenching and rolling beneath his palms. "I’ll get my thrills with you now."

"I just hope I can live up to your high expectations," Jack groaned as Jones’ hands moved over him, arousing and soothing him at the same time. "But there’s nothing I like more than a challenge so..." Jack bent to kiss Jones again, their tongues dueling as they exchanged breath even as he circled his hips lightly, teasing them both with the barely there friction.

Ianto sighed out a moan, his fingers digging into Jack’s back and ass, starting to pull him closer before relaxing, letting the other man do what he wanted, a sort of pleasurable penance for the scare he’d given Harkness.

"God, you’re beautiful," Jack whispered as he brought up his fingers to trace Jones’ eyebrows, ghost over his cheekbones and finally come to rest on lips that were now swollen and moist from all the kissing they’d done. "Falling in love with you was one of the smartest things I’ve done in a long time."

The dark eyebrows that had just been smoothed down furrowed together before arching upward as Ianto digested the low-voiced words Jack had spoken. "You love me?" he asked, his hands still stroking over Jack’s skin.

"Yeah, I kind of do. Is that going to be a problem?"

"I invited you here, not a problem from my end," Ianto responded before sliding a hand up to clench in Jack’s hair, kissing him tenderly, aware of the other man’s momentary fragility.

Jack tangled his tongue with Ianto’s, his trembling hands, though he would never admit that they were, still cupping his lover’s face as he just lived the moment.

"I’m not used to saying that," Jack admitted after they finally broke apart again. "I learned not to a long time ago. It’s..." Resting his forehead against Ianto’s, Jack let his eyes fall shut as he fought the near debilitating wave of grief that crashed through him. "Everyone I love dies eventually, and I’m left alone again. That’s just the way it is. I’ve learned to minimize the damage, so to speak, to disengage or detach from strong emotions so that the pain isn’t as great when the time inevitably comes to say goodbye.

"I learned that it was best to leave before my partner learned the truth and grew to resent me for it, for not growing old and for not dying. Most male partners didn’t seem to mind; after all they got to parade around a handsome younger lover, but the women? No woman likes to grow old and frail and begin to fade away while her lover—or husband—stays young and vibrant in the bloom of life," Jack continued quietly.

"It’s not that I’m not aging, because I am, but it’s infinitesimal cellular decay compared to the normal aging process. Who knows, maybe eventually I’ll simple turn to dust, but that’s a very long way off. Listen to me ramble," Jack laughed suddenly, "still running and hiding behind words. What I’ve been trying to actually say is that as hard as saying I love you is for me, I’m going to try to say it more. I’m doing things right this time, as much as possible. I love you—Jones—Ianto. Den mother cum pain in my ass prick. God, I love you."

"I wish I could say I wasn’t going to leave you," Ianto murmured, brushing his thumb over the line of Jack’s jaw. "But we both know better than that, especially with what we do. I will promise I’ll do my damndest to be here as long as I can.

"We’ve talked about it; you know what happened with the first team I was on. I suppose that’s why I crave the edge—live while you can and all that. And it’s why I mother the lads; I want us all to come home every night."

Ianto tightened the arm he had shifted to Jack’s waist as he traced the cleft in his chin. "You’re my edge now, Jack, all the edge I need."

"Ianto," Jack murmured, bending to kiss the younger man softly. "There’s nothing wrong with living while you can and living life to the fullest. We’re not so different in that respect. I feel the same need, to live every moment like it’s the last because I know full well how short life is and how little time I have with the people I love." Jack fell silent, just lapping up the feeling of the younger man in his arms, Jones’ breath on his skin, the beating of his heart which was almost completely synchronized with Jack’s own.

"I guess that really does make us mom and dad, hunh?" he chuckled softly, after a while. "Because I’m going to do my damnedest to make sure that everyone comes home as well. But you get to tell them about the birds and the bees."

"That’s one thing they don’t need help with," Ianto answered, his blue eyes alight with laughter. "But I’ll get them some pornos in case they’re lacking in any aspect of their education."

"You’re such a good mother, dear, offering to ply the kids with porn in order to round out their education. I’m a most fortunate man indeed," Jack teased, rolling them over so that Jones was now on top. "My ass was starting to burn," he continued mischievously. "Your turn."

"Yours heals faster," Ianto shot back though he didn’t try to roll them back, merely crossing his arms against Jack’s chest and grinning down at him. "And if you call me ‘Mother’ in front of anyone else, I’m going to have a permanent headache, ‘dear’."

"How about muffin? Pooky? Sweetcheeks? The little woman? No?" Jack laughed, ducking when Jones made to smack him upside the head. "How about my love then?" Threading his fingers through Jones’s hair, Jack tugged on the ends to bring their heads closer together. "I never realized how quickly your hair grows; you’ll have to get it cut when we get back. I do like the scruff though," he admitted, rubbing his cheek against the younger man’s lightly. "My man is a manly man at that."

Ianto shook his head at that but didn’t change position so that he rubbed their faces together more. "You are such a fuckwit," he laughed, pulling back to look down at Jack. "But you’re my fuckwit, so I’ll put up with it."

"I’ve been called many endearments in my long and varied life, but I have to say fuckwit is a new one for me," Jack chuckled. "But you’re right about me being yours. I have to ask though, what did Jake say when you told him? How disappointed was he that he wouldn’t be able to play matchmaker with either of us?"

"Said we’d been the ones he’d been trying to set us up with all along," Ianto admitted wryly. "And he was far too smug about it, so I didn’t bother to tell him that it wasn’t his doing that was getting us here."

"Let him have his illusion. Besides I’d rather not tell him that the first time we got together was when he was in hospital... romancing Harper," Jack murmured. "Speaking of romancing someone, I think I had started something when you climbed out of the water looking like some gorgeous young sea god in all his glory but got sidetracked with a confession or two."

Rolling them over again, Jack leered down Jones as he pushed himself up and off of him. "Now don’t move, I have plans for you, Mr. Jones," he ordered as he quickly skimmed out of the dark blue trunks, tossing them onto the pilot chair before kneeling between Jones’s ankles. "Hmm, semi hard just won’t do for what I have in mind," Jack tsked. "I’ll have to do something about that."

Bending slightly, Jack licked a stripe up the underside of Jones’s cock before taking the head into his mouth and sucking lightly. It was only when Jones groaned in frustrated arousal and his hands had come up to bury themselves in Jack’s hair in order to tug him downwards that Jack relaxed his jaw and throat and let himself swallow the younger man to the base of his cock.

"God, Jack," Ianto moaned, rocking upward into the ravenous heat of the older man’s mouth. "You’re too damn good at that." He twisted, his hips rising off the molded fiberglass beneath them, and Jack moved easily with him, continuing to keep his whole length surrounded by sucking warmth.

A soft chuckle was all the answer that Jack was willing to give for long moments. It was only when Jones was sufficiently hard that he finally let up and slid off the younger man with an obscene pop. "I’ve had lots of practice," he replied easily as he crawled up the length of Jones’s body, finally coming to a halt as he straddled the younger man’s hips.

"Topping from the bottom is just so cliché I decided to do something different," Jack informed his lover easily as he leaned forward slightly, one hand braced on the floorboard of the boat while the other wrapped around Jones’s cock to hold it still. "I figured I’d bottom from the top," he finished as he rocked backwards, relishing the burn as he sank steadily down until Jones was buried inside him to the hilt. "Fuck, yes!"

The slow drag of flesh only lubricated by the saliva Jack had left on him had Ianto gasping for breath, his hands moving to the other man’s hips to steady him, both of them holding still, staying connected as deeply as possible. "You just have to do everything over the top," Ianto murmured, hitching his hips as much as possible, the slight change in angle scoring a hit on Jack’s prostate.

"Except when I don’t," Jack breathed out as his body adjusted to the sudden intrusion. And then his eyes shot open, and he gasped, falling forward onto his hands as Jones repeated the motion of his hips. "Oh yeah, baby, just like that," Jack moaned. He circled his hips before he began to rock back and forth on Ianto’s cock, squeezing down each time he pulled up just to make it that much more interesting.

"Like it either way," Ianto murmured, one hand sliding down to circle Jack’s cock, stroking it in time with their rhythm. "Perfect with you. So fucking perfect."

Jack’s laugh was strangled and cut short by a gasp of pleasure. "Damn right I am," he agreed eventually. "Glad you know it too. Fuck, Ianto," he moaned, rocking his hips from side to side even as he raised and lowered himself on the hard cock filling his ass. "You’re pretty damned perfect as well."

"I’ll—God—remind you of that sometime," Ianto gasped, bending his knees to get his feet flat on the boat’s deck, then arching upward, driving into Jack’s ass.

Jack’s head fell back on his shoulders, and a long, breathy moan filled the air as he could feel his arousal spike. Jones was fisting him faster, and Jack brought up a hand to cover it, adding that extra pressure, that extra connection even as he squeezed his ass down on the younger man’s cock. "So close, fuck, so good!" Jack groaned, using his free hand to pinch and pull at a nipple just to add that extra hit of lust.

"Let go, Jack," Ianto said quietly, his whole concentration locked on the other man and his reactions. Straining over him, silhouetted by the sun, Jack was beautiful; that was the only word that described him. "You go and I’ll come too."

Jack rode the younger man for a few more deliciously torturous strokes before he couldn’t hold back any longer. "Fuck, fuck, fuck, _fuck_!" Jack shouted as his orgasm crashed over him with tsunami-like force, causing him to collapse forward onto Ianto’s chest, the younger man’s shout at his own climax echoing in his ears as the warm semen pulsed into his ass.

"Bloody gorgeous," Ianto murmured, his hands stroking over Jack’s back and sides. "And all mine."

"Until your death us do part," Jack whispered almost inaudibly, laying a kiss over Jones’ heart. "And you’re all mine, so it’s fair," he responded in a normal tone of voice, tilting his head up to reveal a shit-eating grin. "Guess all the Wild Boys are officially off the market. The girls in the admin pool will probably declare a state of mourning."

"Just the girls in the admin pool? I’d say it would be national," Ianto laughed, rolling them over, barking Jack’s knee on the boat’s deck as he did so.

"Hey, watch the merchandise!" Jack groaned. "It’s not replaceable—oh yeah, right, it actually is," he chuckled. "But I’d have to do that thing you don’t like me to do in order to get it to heal instantly. Looks like I’ll have to live with a bruise. Wanna kiss it better for me?" Jack asked, waggling his eyebrows playfully.

Ianto rolled to his side and kissed the unblemished skin. "Better now?"

"Much. But I seem to have damaged my lips somehow. Maybe you should kiss them better too."

"Hrmm, they do look inflamed," Ianto observed, skimming a fingertip over the flesh in question. "I’d best do what I can to soothe them." That said, he leaned in and grazed his lips over Jack’s.

When Ianto pulled back, Jack smacked his lips playfully. "You’re a miracle worker, Jones. I’ll have to make sure you kiss all my swollen parts better.

"I guess we should probably get the boat back before the resort sends out the Coast Guard to look for us," Jack sighed after long moments of just lying there, baking in the sun with Jones in his arms as the waves rocked them gently."

"How about I give you a rain check on other swollen areas," Ianto promised as he pulled back out of Jack’s arms and stood, looking around at the empty ocean surrounding the boat. "And we need to drag that parachute in, or we’re going to end up going nowhere."

Jack’s eyebrow shot up at this. "Who’s the one who decided to dump himself instead of keep going?" the older man asked dryly but nonetheless got to his feet, tugging his trunks on once he’d done so and chuckling wickedly as he remembered that Ianto’s had gone overboard. "Well, if nothing else, you can wear the silks as a sarong to cover up your ass-ets."

"Too much fabric," Ianto said, shaking his head as he leaned over to grab the tow line and haul the fabric in. "Besides, that’s what towels are for—and you owe me a new swimsuit; I liked that one!"

"It was fucking ugly, babe," Jack replied immediately. "The rest of the resort, and my delicate sensibilities, will be eternally grateful that the hideously blinding affront to good taste now sleeps with the fishes."

"They distracted people from that bit of fabric you call a suit," Ianto snorted.

Jack looked down at what he was wearing then back up at Jones. "What’s wrong with what I’m wearing?" he asked, confused. "The salesman at the shop in the hotel said they looked great on me!" Jack had had to go and buy the swim trunks the day he’d arrived as he hadn’t actually owned a pair.

"Didn’t hear me saying there was anything wrong with it, did you?" Ianto asked, looking amused. "I happen to enjoy it very much—as does everyone around us."

"No," Jack admitted with relief. "And if by everyone else you mean that pod of dolphins over there, then yeah, I’m sure they’re getting quite a kick out a land mammal wearing strange skin. Unless of course you mean the people ogling me at the beach, in which case I should point out there were an equal number ogling you—you were just too busy checking me out yourself to realize it."

"I was actually making sure there weren’t any bits hanging out anywhere," Ianto shot back before looking back over his shoulder. "And is there any reason that I’m the only one hauling this in?"

"Because I’m too busy drooling over your bulging biceps and perky ass?" Jack replied innocently as he reached back and snagged his aviator shades from where he’d tossed them onto the dashboard earlier. "Consider it recompense for scaring the crap out of me." Nonetheless Jack came to stand next to his lover and began to help him haul the sodden mass of parachute silk onto the boat.

"Hunh," he commented, watching the fabric billow and swirl in the tide as they worked to pull it in. "Kind of looks like the mama shadow dimension shrimp that Ianto and I hunted in the Irish Sea once. Gwen was busy being a baby shrimp wrangler and assaulting a man of the cloth. Ianto was like a kid in a candy store when he got to pilot the Sea Queen—it was the Torchwood speedboat," Jack grinned. "Anyhow, big mama alien lived in a sunken battleship that it had attacked when it came through the Rift. The thing created its own eco-system in the rusting hulk and began to breed in order to get stronger. We _torched_ it," Jack punned. "Unfortunately in order to throw it on the barbie, we had to blow up the Sea Queen too, but damn what a rush!"

"You had a Torchwood speedboat?" Ianto asked, a gleam in his eye as he glanced over at Jack. "I think I need to put in a requisition—just in case we’re invaded by alien shrimp."

Jack’s grin was positively devilish. "I’m fairly certain that should you request it, the division head will take it under some serious advisement—especially given his own love of sleek, high-powered, higher tech vehicles."

"Mmm, a man after my own heart," Ianto sighed, waggling his eyebrows at Jack as they pulled the rest of the parachute out of the water and piled it at the back of the boat, setting a cooler on top of it. That done, Ianto opened the cooler and reached inside, pulling out beers for both of them, handing one to Jack and downing half of his in one swallow.

Jack’s swallow was not as a result of the beer for that was still clutched loosely in his hand, the icy perspirations barely registering. No, his swallow was dry and had everything to do with the way Jones’ throat was undulating as he sucked on the bottle, draining it. "Fucker," he cursed in amusement. "You really are trying to see if you can drive me nuts through sexual tension!

Ianto chuckled at that, though his eyebrows rose. "I wasn’t, but now that you mentioned it... it’s our last night here. What say we hold off until the evening, really celebrate our last night in paradise?"

"Do your worst, Ianto Jones," Jack purred, falling back onto one of the seats. "I _dare_ you."

"You dare me?" Ianto asked, shaking his head as he chuckled. "This isn’t a competition, Harkness; the whole point of it is us having a time of it and going back to work looking well-rested and well-fucked."

"And you’re telling me that wouldn’t be the end result of a dare?" Jack asked in a patently disbelieving tone of voice. "Well, the well-fucked part of it, at least. As for well-rested? There’s always the flight back to sleep."

"Would you prefer relaxed? My hard ass boss did order me to come back in that state," Ianto mused before draining the rest of his beer and walking up to the controls. "Ready to head back?"

"Your hard assed boss didn’t want to think that you might find a better offer in the form of a cute little beach bunny or cabana boy and forget all about him," Jack admitted as he took a swallow of his own beer and leaned back, propping his feet up against the dashboard. "Well, Mr. Jones, the helm is yours—full throttle, hard a port and take us home."

Ianto sketched a salute in Jack’s direction and, not caring in the least that he was still totally naked, kicked the boat’s engines into gear. "Aye aye, Captain, second star to the right and straight on till morning it is."


End file.
